[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7763 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7763

   To establish the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 2024

 Ms. Tlaib (for herself, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mrs. 
 Ramirez, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez) introduced the following bill; which 
             was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, 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 ``Living Wage for Musicians Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. ARTIST COMPENSATION ROYALTY FUND.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--The Register, with the approval of the 
        Librarian of Congress, shall designate an eligible entity to 
        establish and administer a fund to be known as the Artist 
        Compensation Royalty Fund.
            (2) Notice of designation in federal register.--Not later 
        than 30 days after the eligible entity is designated under 
        paragraph (1), the Register shall publish a notice in the 
        Federal Register that--
                    (A) includes the contact information for the 
                eligible entity; and
                    (B) the reason for why the Register designated the 
                eligible entity under such paragraph.
    (b) Deposit of Amounts Into Fund.--
            (1) Deposit.--The Fund Administrator shall deposit into the 
        Fund any amounts received by the Fund Administrator under 
        paragraph (2) or (3).
            (2) Amounts from service providers.--Not later than the 
        last day of the first calendar quarter after the calendar 
        quarter in which the Fund administrator is designated, and each 
        calendar quarter thereafter, a service provider shall provide 
        to the Fund Administrator, for deposit into the Fund--
                    (A) the amounts collected by the service provider 
                in the prior calendar quarter from the living wage 
                royalty fee; and
                    (B) 10 percent of any non-subscription revenue 
                received by the service provider in the prior calendar 
                quarter.
            (3) Amounts from sources other than service providers.--The 
        Fund Administrator may receive amounts for deposit into the 
        Fund from any source, including from a Federal, State, or local 
        government.
    (c) Use of Fund.--Amounts in the Fund shall be made available in 
accordance with section 3.

SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO MUSICAL ARTISTS FROM ARTIST COMPENSATION ROYALTY 
              FUND.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Allocation of payments.--Amounts in the Fund shall be 
        allocated as follows:
                    (A) 90 percent of such amounts shall be allocated 
                for payments to eligible featured artists.
                    (B) 10 percent of such amounts shall be allocated 
                for payments to eligible non-featured artists.
            (2) Payments from fund.--Not later than the last day of the 
        calendar quarter in which amounts are first deposited into the 
        Fund under section 2(b)(2), and once each calendar quarter 
        thereafter, the Fund Administrator shall promptly provide--
                    (A) a percentage of the amount allocated under 
                paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection to each eligible 
                featured artist, that is equal to the percentage of 
                qualifying streams accrued by the eligible featured 
                artist in the prior calendar quarter out of all 
                qualifying streams accrued by all eligible featured 
                artists in the prior calendar quarter; and
                    (B) payment from the amount allocated under 
                paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection to the American 
                Federation of Musicians and Screen Actors Guild and the 
                American Federation of Television and Radio Artists 
                Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund (or any 
                successor Fund) for distribution to each eligible non-
                featured artist.
            (3) Unclaimed funds.--If the Fund Administrator attempts to 
        the best of the ability of the Fund Administrator to identify 
        an eligible featured artist to provide payment to such artist 
        under paragraph (2)(A), and is unable to identify such artist 
        at such time, the Fund shall--
                    (A) retain the required payment in a segregated 
                trust account; and
                    (B) if the Fund Administrator is not able to 
                identify such artist after a period determined 
                reasonable by the Fund Administrator, deposit the 
                payment back into the Fund.
    (b) Retention of Records.--The Fund Administrator shall--
            (1) keep books and records relating to--
                    (A) amounts provided to the Fund Administrator 
                under section 2(b)(2); and
                    (B) amounts distributed from the Fund under 
                subsection (a) of this section; and
            (2) retain any such book or record for a period of not less 
        than 3 calendar years after the date on which such book or 
        record is created.

SEC. 4. SERVICE PROVIDER OBLIGATIONS.

    (a) Living Wage Royalty Fee.--Beginning on a date determined 
appropriate by the Fund Administrator, service provider shall charge 
each person charged a subscription fee by the provider an additional 
fee in an amount equal to 50 percent of the subscription fee charged by 
the service provider, except that such additional fee shall not be an 
amount less than $4 or more than $10.
    (b) Notice of Additional Fee.--In each statement or receipt a 
service provider provides for the charge of a subscription fee and the 
additional fee required by subsection (a), the service provider shall 
include a line item describing such additional fee.
    (c) Treatment of Royalty.--A service provider may not include the 
amounts collected by the service provider from the living wage royalty 
fee in any calculation by the service provider of the total costs or 
revenue of content for the service provider.
    (d) Records.--
            (1) Retention.--Beginning on the date on which the Fund 
        administrator is designated--
                    (A) each service provider shall keep books and 
                records relating to activities carried out by the 
                provider under this Act; and
                    (B) retain such book and records for a period of 
                not less than 3 calendar years after the date on which 
                such book or record is created.
            (2) Regulations.--The Fund Administrator may--
                    (A) require, by regulation, that service providers 
                provide the Fund Administrator information on--
                            (i) non-subscription revenue received by 
                        the service provider;
                            (ii) revenue received by the service 
                        provider from subscription fee;
                            (iii) the collection of the living wage 
                        royalty fee by the provider; and
                            (iv) data of the service provider with 
                        respect to the number streams accrued by 
                        artists through such provider; and
                    (B) audit the books and records of a service 
                provider to verify any information provided by that 
                service provider under subparagraph (A).

SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.

    The Fund Administrator may establish, by regulation, penalties 
for--
            (1) a violation of a prohibition under this Act by a 
        service provider; or
            (2) a failure to comply with a requirement under this Act 
        by a service provider.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Artist.--The term ``artist''--
                    (A) means a human creator; and
                    (B) does not include--
                            (i) corporate entities; or
                            (ii) fully generative artificial 
                        intelligence.
            (2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
                    (A) a single non-profit entity that is--
                            (i) established solely for the purpose of 
                        establishing and administering the Fund;
                            (ii) governed by a Board of Directors that 
                        includes--
                                    (I) committees that are composed of 
                                a mix of voting and nonvoting members; 
                                and
                                    (II) artist representatives as 
                                members of the Board; and
                            (iii) able to demonstrate to the Register 
                        that, by the date described under section 
                        3(a)(2) the entity will have the administrative 
                        and technological capabilities to establish and 
                        administer the Fund in accordance with this 
                        Act; and
                    (B) if no entity meets the criteria under 
                subparagraph (A), an entity determined by the Register 
                to most nearly fit such criteria.
            (3) Eligible featured artist.--The term ``eligible featured 
        artist'' means a featured artist who--
                    (A) registers with the Fund; and
                    (B) provides the Fund Administrator with the 
                information determined necessary by the Fund 
                Administrator--
                            (i) identify or locate such featured 
                        artist; and
                            (ii) provide payment to such featured 
                        artist (or a person designated by such artist 
                        to receive such payment on behalf of such 
                        artist).
            (4) Eligible non-featured artist defined.--In this 
        paragraph, the term ``eligible non-featured artist'' means a 
        non-featured artist that provides the American Federation of 
        Musicians and Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation 
        of Television and Radio Artists Intellectual Property Rights 
        Distribution Fund (or any successor Fund) with the information 
        determined necessary by such Fund--
                    (A) to identify or locate such non-featured artist; 
                and
                    (B) provide payment to the non-featured artist (or 
                a person designated by such artist to receive such 
                payment on behalf of such artist).
            (5) End user.--The term ``end user'' means a unique person 
        that receives an offering from the service provider, including 
        the following:
                    (A) A person who pays no fee for receiving the 
                offering.
                    (B) A person who pays a subscription fee for 
                receiving the offering.
            (6) Featured artist.--The term ``featured artist'' means an 
        artist who is prominently featured on a sound recording made 
        available through an offering.
            (7) Fund.--The term ``Fund'' means the Artist Compensation 
        Royalty Fund established by the Fund Administrator under 
        section 2(a).
            (8) Fund administrator.--The term ``Fund Administrator'' 
        means the eligible entity designated under section 2(a)(1).
            (9) Living wage royalty fee.--The term ``living wage 
        royalty fee'' means the additional free required to be charged 
        under section 4(a).
            (10) Master recording.--The term ``master recording'' means 
        the original sound recording of a song.
            (11) Non-featured artist.--The term ``non-featured 
        artist''--
                    (A) means an artist who is not prominently featured 
                on a sound recording made available through an 
                offering; and
                    (B) includes the following:
                            (i) A session musician.
                            (ii) A back-up vocalist.
            (12) Non-subscription revenue.--The term ``non-subscription 
        revenue'' means any revenue received from music streaming 
        (including revenue received from advertising with respect to 
        such music streaming), other than revenue from a subscription 
        fee.
            (13) Offering.--The term ``offering'' means the provision 
        of a stream by a service provider.
            (14) Qualifying stream.--The term ``qualifying stream'' 
        means with respect to a master recording and a calendar month, 
        the lesser of--
                    (A) the number of streams of the master recording 
                accrued by the eligible featured artist in that 
                calendar month; and
                    (B) 1,000,000 streams.
            (15) Register.--The term ``Register'' means the Register of 
        Copyrights.
            (16) Service provider.--The term ``service provider'' means 
        an entity, that--
                    (A) provides a stream to an end user;
                    (B) contracts with or has a direct relationship 
                with an end user to provide such streams; and
                    (C) controls which such streams are made available 
                to such end users.
            (17)  Stream.--The term ``stream''--
                    (A) means an interactive, encrypted digital 
                transmission that embodies a master recording that 
                allows a person to receive and listen to such master 
                recording upon request at a time chosen by the person;
                    (B) does not include a temporary copy of such 
                master recording--
                            (i) generated by a service provider in the 
                        course of providing the transmission; and
                            (ii) used solely for the purpose of caching 
                        or buffering.
            (18) Subscription fee.--The term ``subscription fee'' means 
        a monthly fee that a person pays to the service provider to 
        access an offering of the service provider, whether or not the 
        person pays the fee on a standalone basis or as part of a 
        single transaction that includes such fee and another fee for 
        one or more product or services having more than token value.
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