[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 848 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 848

 To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 17, United 
                  States Code, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2009

  Mr. Conyers (for himself, Mr. Issa, Mr. Berman, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. 
Hodes, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Weiner, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Nadler of New 
York, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Schiff, Mr. 
Sherman, Mr. Shadegg, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of 
California, Ms. Harman, and Mr. Waxman) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 17, United 
                  States Code, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Performance Rights Act''.

SEC. 2. EQUITABLE TREATMENT FOR TERRESTRIAL BROADCASTS.

    (a) Performance Right Applicable to Radio Transmissions 
Generally.--Section 106(6) of title 17, United States Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
            ``(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the 
        copyrighted work publicly by means of an audio transmission.''.
    (b) Inclusion of Terrestrial Broadcasts in Existing Performance 
Right.--Section 114(d)(1) of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
        ``a digital'' and inserting ``an''; and
            (2) by striking subparagraph (A).
    (c) Inclusion of Terrestrial Broadcasts in Existing Statutory 
License System.--Section 114(j)(6) of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ``digital''.

SEC. 3. SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR SMALL, NONCOMMERCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND 
              RELIGIOUS STATIONS AND CERTAIN USES.

    (a) Small, Noncommercial, Educational, and Religious Radio 
Stations.--
            (1) In general.--Section 114(f)(2) of title 17, United 
        States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraphs (A) 
        through (C), each individual terrestrial broadcast station that 
        has gross revenues in any calendar year of less than $1,250,000 
        may elect to pay for its over-the-air nonsubscription broadcast 
        transmissions a royalty fee of $5,000 per year, in lieu of the 
        amount such station would otherwise be required to pay under 
        this paragraph. Such royalty fee shall not be taken into 
        account in determining royalty rates in a proceeding under 
        chapter 8, or in any other administrative, judicial, or other 
        Federal Government proceeding.
            ``(E) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraphs (A) 
        through (C), each individual terrestrial broadcast station that 
        is a public broadcasting entity as defined in section 118(f) 
        may elect to pay for its over-the-air nonsubscription broadcast 
        transmissions a royalty fee of $1,000 per year, in lieu of the 
        amount such station would otherwise be required to pay under 
        this paragraph. Such royalty fee shall not be taken into 
        account in determining royalty rates in a proceeding under 
        chapter 8, or in any other administrative, judicial, or other 
        Federal Government proceeding.''.
            (2) Payment date.--A payment under subparagraph (D) or (E) 
        of section 114(f)(2) of title 17, United States Code, as added 
        by paragraph (1), shall not be due until the due date of the 
        first royalty payments for nonsubscription broadcast 
        transmissions that are determined, after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, under such section 114(f)(2) by reason 
        of the amendment made by section 2(b)(2) of this Act.
    (b) Transmission of Religious Services; Incidental Uses of Music.--
Section 114(d)(1) of title 17, United States Code, as amended by 
section 2(b), is further amended by inserting the following before 
subparagraph (B):
                    ``(A) an eligible nonsubscription transmission of--
                            ``(i) services at a place of worship or 
                        other religious assembly; and
                            ``(ii) an incidental use of a musical sound 
                        recording;''.

SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF PER PROGRAM LICENSE.

    Section 114(f)(2)(B) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after the second sentence the following new sentence: ``Such 
rates and terms shall include a per program license option for 
terrestrial broadcast stations that make limited feature uses of sound 
recordings.''

SEC. 5. NO HARMFUL EFFECTS ON SONGWRITERS.

    (a) No Adverse Affect on License Fees for Underlying Musical Works; 
Necessity for Other Licenses.--
            (1) In general.--Section 114(i) of title 17, United States 
        Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(i) No Adverse Affect on License Fees for Underlying Musical 
Works; Necessity for Other Licenses.--
            ``(1) No adverse affect on license fees for underlying 
        musical works.--License fees payable for the public performance 
        of sound recordings under section 106(6) shall not be cited, 
        taken into account, or otherwise used in any administrative, 
        judicial, or other governmental forum or proceeding, or 
        otherwise, to set or adjust the license fees payable to 
        copyright owners of musical works or their representatives for 
        the public performance of their works, for the purpose of 
        reducing or adversely affecting such license fees. License fees 
        payable to copyright owners for the public performance of their 
        musical works shall not be reduced or adversely affected in any 
        respect as a result of the rights granted by section 106(6).
            ``(2) Necessity for other licenses.--Notwithstanding the 
        grant by an owner of copyright in a sound recording of an 
        exclusive or nonexclusive license of the right under section 
        106(6) to perform the work publicly, a licensee of that sound 
        recording may not publicly perform such sound recording unless 
        a license has been granted for the public performance of any 
        copyrighted musical work contained in the sound recording. Such 
        license to publicly perform the copyrighted musical work may be 
        granted either by a performing rights society representing the 
        copyright owner or by the copyright owner.''.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 114(d)(3)(C) of title 
        17, United States Code, is hereby repealed.
    (b) Public Performance Rights and Royalties.--Nothing in this Act 
or the amendments made by this Act shall adversely affect in any 
respect the public performance rights of or royalties payable to 
songwriters or copyright owners of musical works.
    (c) Preservation of Royalties on Underlying Works Publicly 
Performed by Terrestrial Broadcast Stations.--Section 114(f) of title 
17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
            ``(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, 
        under no circumstances shall the rates established by the 
        Copyright Royalty Judges for the public performance of sound 
        recordings be cited, taken into account, or otherwise used in 
        any administrative, judicial, or other governmental forum or 
        proceeding, or otherwise, to reduce or adversely affect the 
        license fees payable to copyright owners of musical works or 
        their representatives for the public performance of their works 
        by terrestrial broadcast stations, and such license fees for 
        the public performance of musical works shall be independent of 
        license fees paid for the public performance of sound 
        recordings.''.

SEC. 6. PAYMENT OF CERTAIN ROYALTIES.

    Section 114(g) of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
            ``(1) Except in the case of a transmission to which 
        paragraph (5) applies or a transmission licensed under a 
        statutory license in accordance with subsection (f) of this 
        section, the following shall apply:
                    ``(A) A featured recording artist who performs on a 
                sound recording that has been licensed for public 
                performance by means of a digital audio transmission 
                shall be entitled to receive payments from the 
                copyright owner of the sound recording in accordance 
                with the terms of the artist's contract.
                    ``(B)(i) In a case in which the copyright owner of 
                a sound recording has licensed the sound recording for 
                the public performance of the sound recording by means 
                of a digital audio transmission, the copyright owner 
                shall deposit 1 percent of the receipts from the 
                license with the American Federation of Musicians and 
                American Federation of Television and Radio Artists 
                Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund (or any 
                successor entity) (in this subparagraph referred to as 
                the `Fund') to be distributed to nonfeatured performers 
                who have performed on sound recordings. The sound 
                recording copyright owner shall make such deposits for 
                receipts received during the first half of a calendar 
                year by August 15 and for receipts received during the 
                second half of a calendar year by February 15 of the 
                following calendar year.
                    ``(ii) A sound recording copyright owner shall 
                include with deposits under clause (i) information 
                regarding the amount of such deposits attributable to 
                each licensee and, subject to obtaining consent, if 
                necessary, from such licensee, for each sound recording 
                performed by means of a digital audio transmission by 
                such licensee during the applicable time period, and to 
                the extent included in the accounting reports provided 
                by the licensee to the sound recording copyright 
                owner--
                            ``(I) the identity of the artist;
                            ``(II) the International Standard Recording 
                        Code of the sound recording;
                            ``(III) the title of the sound recording;
                            ``(IV) the number of times the sound 
                        recording was transmitted; and
                            ``(V) the total amount of receipts 
                        collected from that licensee.
                    ``(iii) The Fund shall make the distributions 
                described in clause (i) as follows: 50 percent shall be 
                paid to nonfeatured musicians (whether or not members 
                of the American Federation of Musicians) and 50 percent 
                shall be paid to nonfeatured vocalists (whether or not 
                members of the American Federation of Television and 
                Radio Artists). The Fund may, prior to making such 
                distributions, deduct the reasonable costs related to 
                making such distributions.
                    ``(iv) The sound recording copyright owner shall 
                not be required to provide any additional information 
                to the Fund other than what is required under this 
                subparagraph. Sound recording copyright owners shall 
                use reasonable good faith efforts to include in all 
                relevant licenses a requirement to report the 
                information identified in subclauses (I) through (V) of 
                clause (ii). Amounts required under clause (i) that are 
                not paid by the date specified in such clause shall be 
                subject to interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum 
                for each day of nonpayment after the date the payment 
                was due.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), to the extent that a 
        license granted by the copyright owner of a sound recording to 
        a terrestrial broadcast station extends to such station's 
        nonsubscription broadcast transmissions otherwise licensable 
        under a statutory license in accordance with subsection (f), 
        the station shall pay to the agent designated to distribute 
        statutory licensing receipts from the licensing of 
        transmissions in accordance with subsection (f), 50 percent of 
        the total royalties that the station is required to pay for 
        such transmissions under the applicable license agreement. That 
        agent shall distribute such payments in proportion to the 
        distributions provided in subparagraphs (B) through (D) of 
        paragraph (2), and such payments shall be the sole payments to 
        which featured and nonfeatured artists are entitled by virtue 
        of such transmissions under the direct license with that 
        station.''.
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