I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3301 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide Federal protection to 
the digital audio transmission of a sound recording fixed before February 
15, 1972, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 19, 2017 
Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. NADLER, Mr. CONYERS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 
THOMAS J. ROONEY of Florida, and Mr. DEUTCH) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide Federal 
protection to the digital audio transmission of a sound 
recording fixed before February 15, 1972, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Compensating Legacy 
Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contribu-
tions to Society Act’’ or the ‘‘CLASSICS Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. UNAUTHORIZED DIGITAL PERFORMANCE OF PRE- 
1972 SOUND RECORDINGS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Title 17, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new chapter: 
‘‘CHAPTER 14—UNAUTHORIZED DIGITAL 
PERFORMANCE OF PRE-1972 SOUND 
RECORDINGS 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘1401. Unauthorized digital performance of pre-1972 sound recordings. 
‘‘§ 1401. Unauthorized digital performance of pre- 
1972 sound recordings 
‘‘(a) UNAUTHORIZED ACTS.—Anyone who, prior to 
February 15, 2067, performs publicly by means of digital 
audio transmission a sound recording fixed before Feb-
ruary 15, 1972, without the consent of the rights owner, 
shall be subject to the remedies provided in sections 502 
through 505 to the same extent as an infringer of copy-
right. 
‘‘(b) CERTAIN UNAUTHORIZED TRANSMISSIONS.— 
Transmissions of sound recordings fixed before February 
15, 1972, shall be considered authorized and with the con-
sent of the rights owner for purposes of subsection (a), 
if— 
‘‘(1) the transmissions are made by a transmit-
ting entity publicly performing sound recordings pro-
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tected under this title by means of digital audio 
transmissions subject to section 114; 
‘‘(2) the transmissions would satisfy the re-
quirements for statutory licensing under section 
114(d)(2) or would be exempt under section 
114(d)(1), if the sound recordings were fixed on or 
after February 15, 1972; 
‘‘(3) in the case of transmissions that would not 
be exempt under section 114(d)(1) as described in 
paragraph (2), the transmitting entity pays statu-
tory royalties and provides notice of its use of the 
relevant sound recordings in the same manner as re-
quired by regulations adopted by the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges for sound recordings that are protected 
under this title; and 
‘‘(4) in the case of transmissions that would not 
be exempt under section 114(d)(1) as described in 
paragraph (2), the transmitting entity otherwise sat-
isfies the requirements for statutory licensing under 
section 114(f)(4)(B). 
‘‘(c) TRANSMISSIONS
BY DIRECT LICENSING
OF 
STATUTORY SERVICES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A transmission of a sound 
recording fixed before February 15, 1972, shall be 
considered authorized and with the consent of the 
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rights owner for purposes of subsection (a) if in-
cluded in any license agreement voluntarily nego-
tiated at any time between the rights owner and the 
entity performing the sound recording. 
‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF ROYALTIES TO NONPROFIT 
AGENT.—To the extent that such a license extends 
to transmissions of sound recordings fixed before 
February 15, 1972, that satisfy the conditions of 
subsection (b), the licensee shall pay 50 percent of 
the performance royalties for the transmissions due 
under the license to the collective designated to dis-
tribute receipts from the licensing of transmissions 
in accordance with section 114(f), with such royal-
ties fully credited as payments due under such li-
cense. 
‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION
OF
ROYALTIES
BY
NON-
PROFIT AGENT.—That collective shall distribute the 
royalties received pursuant to paragraph (2) in ac-
cordance with subparagraphs (B) through (D) of 
section 114(g)(2). Such payments shall be the sole 
payments to which featured and nonfeatured artists 
are entitled by virtue of such transmissions under 
the license. 
‘‘(4) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—This section 
does not prohibit any other license from directing 
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the licensee to pay other royalties due to featured 
and nonfeatured artists for such transmissions to 
the collective designated to distribute receipts from 
the licensing of transmissions in accordance with 
section 114(f). 
‘‘(d) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to annul or limit any rights or 
remedies under the common law or statutes of any 
State for sound recordings fixed before February 15, 
1972, except, notwithstanding section 301(c), the 
following: 
‘‘(A) This section preempts claims of com-
mon law copyright or equivalent rights under 
the law of any State arising from digital audio 
transmissions of sound recordings fixed before 
February 15, 1972, made on and after the ef-
fective date of this section. 
‘‘(B) This section preempts claims of com-
mon law copyright or equivalent rights under 
the law of any State arising from reproductions 
of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 
1972, made on and after the effective date of 
this section, for reproductions that would sat-
isfy the requirements for statutory licensing 
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under section 112(e)(1) and (6), if the sound 
recordings were fixed on or after February 15, 
1972. 
‘‘(C) This section preempts claims of com-
mon law copyright or equivalent rights under 
the law of any State arising from digital audio 
transmissions and reproductions of sound re-
cordings fixed before February 15, 1972, made 
before the effective date of this section, if— 
‘‘(i) the digital audio transmissions 
and reproductions would have satisfied the 
requirements for statutory licensing under 
section 114(d)(2) or been exempt under 
section 114(d)(1), or would have satisfied 
the requirements of section 112(e)(1), re-
spectively; and 
‘‘(ii) within 270 days after the effec-
tive date of this section, except in the case 
of transmissions that would have been ex-
empt under section 114(d)(1), the trans-
mitting entity pays statutory royalties and 
provides notice of the use of the relevant 
sound recordings in the same manner as 
required by regulations adopted by the 
Copyright Royalty Judges for sound re-
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cordings that are protected under this title 
for all the digital audio transmissions and 
reproductions satisfying the requirements 
for 
statutory 
licensing 
under 
section 
114(d)(2) and section 112(e)(1) during the 
3 years prior to the effective date of this 
section. 
‘‘(2) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION
FOR
COMMON 
LAW COPYRIGHT.—For purposes of subparagraphs 
(A) through (C) of paragraph (1), claims of common 
law copyright or equivalent rights under the law of 
any State include claims that characterize conduct 
subject to such subparagraphs as an unlawful dis-
tribution, act of record piracy, or similar violation. 
‘‘(3) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION
FOR
PUBLIC 
PERFORMANCE
RIGHTS.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to recognize or negate the exist-
ence of public performance rights in sound record-
ings under the law of any State. 
‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS ON REMEDIES.— 
‘‘(1) FAIR USE; REPRODUCTION BY LIBRARIES 
AND
ARCHIVES.—The limitations on the exclusive 
rights of a copyright owner described in sections 107 
and 108 shall apply to a claim for unauthorized per-
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