Congress Should Fully Protect Valuable Copyrighted Music Recordings

On August 29, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released its "Mid-Year 2024 RIAA Revenue Statistics" report. RIAA's report finds a 4% increase in U.S. recorded music market retail revenues for a total of $8.7 billion during the first half of 2024 compared to $8.4 billion during the first half of the prior year. Digital streaming service subscriptions totaled about 99 million during the first half of this year, and those subscriptions account for almost two-thirds of total revenues. Additionally, the reported $994 million in physical sales during the first half of 2024 was up from $822 million during the first half of 2023, due primarily to a 17% increase in revenues from vinyl record sales. See RIAA's report for more details.

As music recording artists, producers, and the rest of the recorded music industry pursue creative and economic opportunities in 2024, there remains work for the 118th Congress to do to help ensure that valuable copyrighted sound recordings receive full protection under the law. One important thing Congress should do is advance the American Music Fairness Act – S.253 and H.R. 791. 

Under current copyright law, terrestrial AM/FM radio stations have a special exemption from paying royalties to owners of copyrighted sound recordings when those stations play the music on the air. Consequently, foreign terrestrial AM/FM radio stations do not have to pay royalties for playing copyrighted music owned by Americans so long as domestic terrestrial AM/FM radio stations in the U.S. have no obligation to pay such royalties. In other words, the recorded music industry does not generate any direct revenues from radio broadcasts of copyrighted sound recordings. 

But S.253 and H.R. 791 would require AM/FM stations to pay royalties to owners of sound recordings for the use of their intellectual property just like online streaming services do. Passage of the Act would enable U.S. copyright owners to receive royalties from foreign stations. Notably, the Act provides a low flat royalty rate for small commercial and non-profit stations. 

 

For further background on the American Music Fairness Act, see my February 2022 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "American Music Fairness Act Would Secure Copyrights in Sound Recordings." And for a brief overview of the hearing on H.R. 7910 held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet during the summer, see my July 5 blog post "American Copyright Owners Deserve Royalties When Radio Stations Use Their Property."