Ask Musicians for Music Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2932 To amend title 17, United States Code, to require broadcasters to obtain permission to transmit content owned by another person, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Mrs. BLACKBURN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 17, United States Code, to require broad- casters to obtain permission to transmit content owned by another person, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ask Musicians for 4 Music Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2932 IS SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION CONSENT FOR TERRESTRIAL 1 BROADCASTS. 2 (a) RIGHT APPLICABLE TO TRANSMISSIONS GEN- 3 ERALLY.—Section 106(6) of title 17, United States Code, 4 is amended by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’. 5 (b) TRANSMISSION CONSENT.—Section 114(d)(1)(A) 6 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding 7 after ‘‘transmission’’ the following: ‘‘, except that, in the 8 case of a transmission made by a radio station, the radio 9 station shall obtain the express authority of the copyright 10 owner of that sound recording for any such transmission 11 (unless the transmission consists of services at a place of 12 worship (or at another religious assembly) or incidental 13 uses of a musical work)’’. 14 SEC. 3. SMALL BROADCASTERS; PUBLIC AND EDU- 15 CATIONAL RADIO; PAYMENTS. 16 (a) SMALL BROADCASTERS.— 17 (1) DEFINITION.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 19 term ‘‘small broadcaster’’ means a radio station 20 with revenues in a year of less than $1,000,000, 21 including all revenues arising from or relating 22 to the operation of the station, as calculated in 23 accordance with generally accepted accounting 24 principles in the United States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2932 IS (B) AFFILIATES.—For the purposes of cal- 1 culating revenues under subparagraph (A) with 2 respect to affiliated broadcast stations of a 3 radio station described in that subparagraph, 4 revenues shall be allocated reasonably to indi- 5 vidual stations that are associated with those 6 revenues. 7 (2) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—With respect to an 8 effort to obtain the express authority of a copyright 9 owner that is required with respect to a transmission 10 made by a radio station under section 114(d)(1)(A) 11 of title 17, United States Code, as amended by sec- 12 tion 2(b), if the radio station seeking that authority 13 is a small broadcaster, the small broadcaster shall 14 make a payment of $500 per year to obtain that au- 15 thority. 16 (b) PUBLIC BROADCASTERS, COLLEGE RADIO, AND 17 OTHER NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS.—Any negotiation to 18 obtain the express authority of a copyright owner that is 19 required with respect to a transmission made by a radio 20 station under section 114(d)(1)(A) of title 17, United 21 States Code, as amended by section 2(b), may not result 22 in the payment of compensation in an amount that is more 23 than $100 per year by any individual terrestrial broadcast 24 station that is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2932 IS (1) licensed by the Federal Communications 1 Commission as an individual terrestrial broadcast 2 station; and 3 (2) a public broadcasting entity, as that term is 4 defined in section 118(f) of title 17, United States 5 Code. 6 (c) PAYMENTS.—A payment made under subsection 7 (a) or (b) shall be directed to the nonprofit collective des- 8 ignated by the Copyright Royalty Judges to distribute re- 9 ceipts from the licensing of transmissions in accordance 10 with section 114(f) of title 17, United States Code, and 11 that collective shall distribute that payment in accordance 12 with paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 114(g) of that title. 13 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 14 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 101 of title 17, United 15 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat- 16 ing to ‘‘architectural work’’ the following: 17 ‘‘An ‘audio transmission’ is the communication 18 of a sound recording, whether in digital, analog, or 19 other format, through which sounds are received be- 20 yond the location from which the sounds are sent. 21 An audio transmission does not include the trans- 22 mission of any audiovisual work.’’. 23 (b) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 17, 24 United States Code, is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2932 IS (1) in section 112(e)(8), by striking ‘‘a digital 1 audio transmission’’ and inserting ‘‘an audio trans- 2 mission’’; 3 (2) in section 114— 4 (A) in subsection (d)— 5 (i) in paragraph (1)— 6 (I) in the matter preceding sub- 7 paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘a digital’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 9 (II) in subparagraph (B)— 10 (aa) by striking clauses (i) 11 and (iii); 12 (bb) by redesignating 13 clauses (ii) and (iv) as clauses (i) 14 and (ii), respectively; and 15 (cc) in clause (ii), as so re- 16 designated, by striking ‘‘retrans- 17 mission, whether or not simulta- 18 neous, is a’’ and inserting ‘‘re- 19 transmission is a non-simulta- 20 neous,’’; 21 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 22 (I) in the matter preceding sub- 23 paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘subscrip- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2932 IS tion digital’’ and inserting ‘‘subscrip- 1 tion’’; and 2 (II) in subparagraph (C)(viii), by 3 striking ‘‘digital signal’’ and inserting 4 ‘‘signal’’; and 5 (iii) in paragraph (4)— 6 (I) in subparagraph (A), by strik- 7 ing ‘‘a digital audio transmission’’ and 8 inserting ‘‘an audio transmission’’; 9 and 10 (II) in subparagraph (B)(i), by 11 striking ‘‘a digital audio trans- 12 mission’’ and inserting ‘‘an audio 13 transmission’’; 14 (B) in subsection (g)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘a 15 digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 16 (C) in subsection (j)— 17 (i) in paragraph (6)— 18 (I) by striking ‘‘digital’’; and 19 (II) by striking ‘‘retransmissions 20 of broadcast transmissions’’ and in- 21 serting ‘‘broadcast transmissions and 22 retransmissions of broadcast trans- 23 missions’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2932 IS (ii) in paragraph (8), by striking 1 ‘‘subscription digital’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 2 scription’’; and 3 (3) in section 1401(b), in the matter preceding 4 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘an’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2932.IS S2932 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS