[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 178 (Monday, October 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5226-S5227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      National Country Music Month

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, well, it is Country Music Month, and 
in Nashville, you will hear people say ``it all begins with a song.''
  And, indeed, when we think about the playlists on our phones, when we 
think about the songs that frame our life, that is very true. And we 
love the fact that we get to celebrate the creative community every 
single year during Country Music Month. And this week, the Senate 
should pass a resolution that Senator Kaine and I have filed. It is 
designating October as National Country Music Month.
  Now, Bristol, TN, Bristol, VA, right there on the State line, that is 
the birthplace of country music. So you have got a little bit of 
Tennessee and a little bit of Virginia, and we share that richness and 
that history. And what our resolution does is to highlight our 
States'--Tennessee's and Virginia's--rich, shared history of fostering 
creativity, of dreaming those big dreams, and then setting those dreams 
and thoughts to words and music.
  The music that these artists, songwriters, and musicians create has 
had a profound impact not only on country music as a genre but on the 
evolution of American music.
  Tennessee artists have the unique power to unite us as Americans. 
With that in mind, I want to thank my colleagues in advance for 
celebrating our creative community with us and helping designate 
October as National Country Music Month. But our work is not 
done. These musicians need our help getting paid for their art, 
controlling the business side of their careers, and protecting their 
intellectual property.

  I want to highlight a few bills this body must pass to maintain our 
position as a cultural and artistic leader and a creative hub. The 
United States is the only democratic nation in the world where artists 
are not compensated for the use of their songs on AM/FM radio. Now, as 
I said, we are the only democratic nation that does not compensate 
these artists. Now, Iran and North Korea are two of the only other 
countries with this distinction.
  Senator Padilla and I have introduced a bipartisan piece of 
legislation--the American Music Fairness Act--which would right this 
wrong and ensure performers are compensated when their songs are played 
on the radio.
  Now, Senator Padilla and I could probably have a great discussion 
about, Does California have more artists and singers and songwriters or 
does Tennessee? But I think Tennessee probably has more of those 
artists and songwriters.
  Now, not being paid for the use of their music on radio has been a 
decades-long injustice that hurts Americans at home and abroad. As I 
said, the United States is the only democratic nation that does not pay 
for that radio play. So the majority of foreign nations--those who 
already pay their own artists for radio airplay--currently withhold 
royalties from American music creators simply because the United States 
does not reciprocate by paying their performers. This amounts to a 
massive financial hit for our American artists.
  Now, when you talk with them, what you will learn from different 
royalty rights organizations is our entertainers here are missing out 
on about $200 million each year in income to those musicians--$200 
million a year. That is money that would come from other countries to 
our American artists if we were to pass the American Music Fairness 
Act.
  (Ms. BUTLER assumed the Chair.)
  Senator Padilla and I have worked hard on this. It is bipartisan. We 
think to not pay these artists is something that needs to be fixed, and 
that is why we should agree to get the American Music Fairness Act to 
the President's desk without delay.
  Now, I also worked with the late Senator Dianne Feinstein--and, Madam 
President, we welcome you. We know you have big shoes to fill in 
Senator Feinstein's seat. Senator Feinstein and I often talked about 
the importance of keeping this American creative community here and 
keeping that community vibrant, and she and I worked together to 
introduce a piece of bill that is called the HITS Act. This is the Help 
Independent Tracks Succeed, HITS.
  Now, this bill would allow independent music creators--including 
musicians, technicians, songwriters, and producers--to deduct 100 
percent of recording production expenses in the year that those 
expenses are incurred. The Federal Tax Code already allows film, 
television, theater productions to do this, and there is no reason not 
to give our music creators this same benefit. Think about that. 
Somebody goes in; they book that studio time; they lay down those 
tracks; they lay down those vocals; you get a producer that produces 
it; the musicians play on it; the technicians come in and tweak this--
and they cannot deduct all of that expense. This is not fair, 
especially when you consider that TV, film, theater--they can all 
deduct 100 percent.
  So Senator Feinstein and I worked on this, got it ready to go. This 
is another one that needs to pass. These two pieces of legislation 
really have something very important in common. They recognize that 
entertainment as a career is both a creative pursuit and it is a very 
fragile business model. It requires that those individuals be able to 
exercise their intellectual property rights to benefit from their 
creations.
  And one of the top concerns I hear from entertainers and their teams 
is the extent to which AI will--and already has--damaged their 
businesses. So we have another issue that has come on. In addition to 
not being fully compensated, then these entertainers are looking at the 
impact that artificial intelligence is going to have on their business.
  Now, Congress is already late to the AI issue. We all know that, and 
I am delighted that we are beginning to see bipartisan interest in 
moving forward some legislation on guidelines and guardrails for 
artificial intelligence.
  Creators have already begun to see that their voices, their 
likenesses, and their styles of music are used without their consent. 
And the danger to their livelihoods is real because they are not being 
compensated for their music that is used to train AI models that are 
actually going to take away the ability for them to make money on what 
they have created.
  So in addition to not being paid for radio play, in addition to not 
being able to deduct production expense, now--here it comes--AI is 
going to mimic them and use name, image, likeness, voice cloning and 
take away more of their ability.
  So Senator Coons and I have released a discussion draft on a piece of 
legislation to help protect these artists. It is called the NO FAKES 
Act. The NO FAKES Act would hold individuals, companies, and platforms 
accountable for digital replicas created or used without the consent of 
the individual that is being cloned or depicted in that replica. So it 
allows an entertainer to protect themselves, the replication of their 
voice, of their mannerisms, of their musical style.
  Well, Hank Williams, Jr., has been quoted as saying, ``Country music 
singers have always been a real close family.'' He is pretty right 
about that. And just like any family, I love it when you see all of 
these entertainers who are, in essence, competitors competing for radio 
time and studio time and tours and dates on their tours. They are 
competing for it all, but they come together, and they let you know 
when they need something and when something needs to be done. And 
addressing this AI issue is something that needs to be done.
  So I would encourage my colleagues to talk to entertainers in their 
States and talk with them about the American Music Fairness Act, the 
HITS Act, and the NO FAKES Act, and what it would do to give them that 
control over their art, their name, their image, their likeness.
  You know, here in the United States, whether we want to argue about: 
Is Tennessee the biggest or does California have the most or is 
Virginia the

[[Page S5227]]

real home and who produces the most records and lays down the most 
recording? What we can all agree on is that the United States of 
America is the hub for entertainment. It is where everyone wants to 
come, and, of course, we like that ingenuity and that creativity, and 
we love it that artists come to Nashville and say: We want to record 
that Nashville sound. Let us keep this industry viable.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.