[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19909-19913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SONGWRITER EQUITY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kelly of Mississippi). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is good to be back on the 
floor of the House. I am thrilled tonight to be surrounded with my 
friends and colleagues, and to be part on championing a call that is 
close to my heart, and should be for every Member of Congress. Because 
we are dealing with songs and songwriters and the special place that 
they have in American life, and really in the world.
  The amazing thing is how the songs that come from the hearts of many 
from Nashville, where I have friends tonight, Rob and Lance and Lee 
Thomas, and the rest, they are watching others across the country are 
songwriters, who are very interested in what goes on here. Because, 
amazingly enough, here in Washington, DC, as the tentacles spread out, 
you come to find out that, even in songwriting, Washington has its grip 
on it.

                              {time}  1930

  I just want to point out for those who may be watching--now, this is 
a quote. This doesn't come from me. It comes from Kevin Kadish. You may 
know Kevin. If you like to listen to a little bit of music, he happened 
to have a little, small hit with Meghan Trainor, ``All About That 
Bass,'' and Miley Cyrus' ``Two More Lonely People.'' He made a comment. 
He said that no one is trying to put Pandora or Spotify out of 
business. We just want a fair market value for our blood, sweat, and 
tears.
  This is something that, for me, is very special because, over the 
next 30 minutes, you are going to hear about a million and a half 
songwriters, publishers, and composers across the Nation and how the 
current music licensing regime is causing them to be paid well below 
market value.
  Now, as a conservative, one thing I believe is that the government 
has a role--it has a limited constitutional role--especially when it 
comes to the ultimate of the small businesses: the entrepreneurs. Those 
are some of our songwriters and composers. The Federal Government 
should not have its thumb on the scale, and that is what we are seeing 
tonight. So you are going to hear about that as we go along. The 
government's heavy hand in this industry needs to go.
  We have got another issue here of the Songwriter Equity Act. We have 
got some folks I want to have talk tonight; but I want to introduce 
this, and they are all cosponsors of this act. It is H.R. 1283.
  When I start talking about this tonight, for those watching, there 
are three ways songwriters get paid. I am going to make it very simple. 
There are three ways they get paid: Two of which the government has its 
thumb on and--guess what?--one of which they don't. Does anybody want 
to take a guess? Raise your hand. Not my colleagues, you know this. 
Will anyone raise his hand really quickly? Which way is the fairest 
way? It is when they are able to negotiate on their own. That is the 
sync license.
  So, with the Songwriter Equity Act, it removes the antiquated 
evidentiary

[[Page 19910]]

standard; it adopts a fair rate standard for reproduction, or 
mechanical licenses. Why? To ensure that songwriters, composers, and 
publishers are appropriately compensated for the use of their 
intellectual property.
  Before I get ready to turn it over to some of my friends who are here 
with me tonight and who are part of cosponsoring this, the issue before 
us is: We all can point back to that time. It is a song on the radio. 
This is the time of year, this holiday season. Or it may be a long 
drive in the summer. Or it may be sitting outside, but there is that 
song and that special someone. That song comes on, and you hear it, and 
the performer is performing it wonderfully. It may have been the 
performer, or it may have been something else. But a lot of times, 
there is someone who is sitting in a room or is sitting somewhere, and 
what comes out of their hand and onto a piece of paper has come out of 
their heart and their mind and their mouth. It has affected our hearts 
and our minds, and it has affected us even to this day.
  You can think about those songs. That is what makes songwriters 
special. That is what makes this cause something that we need to fight 
for.
  You have heard them on the radio. Our radio stations have played 
these songs. For a State trooper's kid, who grew up in northeast 
Georgia, to listen to the radio, that was my escape. Between that and 
books, I traveled the world and always longed to see it, and those 
songwriters took me there. This is why we are fighting today. It is 
because we believe that what these artists have is intellectual 
property. What comes out of the their minds, what comes out and is 
expressed on paper and is then translated many times through artists' 
singing across the world, is worth protecting. It is intellectual 
property. It is as much intellectual property as is this property of my 
phone in my hand, and we have got to understand that.
  Tonight, I have some friends with me. We will have a lot of time to 
talk about this. I want to start off up north a little bit. My friend 
from North Dakota, Kevin Cramer, is here. We have talked about this 
issue, and I am glad he has joined me here tonight.
  One of the things that we talked about, Kevin, as you came on the 
floor, you said, You know, it is just about fairness. I think that is a 
great way to put it. It is just about fairness. So I am happy to yield 
to the gentleman to talk about this.
  Mr. CRAMER. I thank the gentleman, my friend from Georgia, and others 
who have carried the ball on this issue for some time.
  A special thanks to our friend from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn. I 
serve on the same committee with her, and I have learned a great deal 
about this and other things from Representative Blackburn.
  Mr. Speaker, I was reminded of a quote by the songwriting and song 
performing phenom Taylor Swift, who said: I think songwriting is the 
ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life 
productive.
  Certainly, with whatever happens in your life, whether it is sad or 
glorious or joyful or heavy, you can write a song. It could be 
productive, but that doesn't mean it is profitable. If something is not 
profitable, the productivity of it will certainly wane over time, and 
we will be robbed of that very important piece of the music value 
chain: Where the product begins, which is in the heart and mind of the 
songwriter.
  One of the things I love so much about this job--and I am happy to 
admit it to my friends in the Chamber tonight--is all of the things 
that you are forced to learn that you never thought were important 
before you learned about them. It is kind of amazing. Here we are, 435 
colleagues, representing, roughly, 700,000 people. In my case, I 
represent the entire State of North Dakota. We think about things like 
agriculture and coal and oil. We think about things like highway bills, 
but we don't necessarily think a lot about songwriting. We think a lot 
about markets. We think a lot about fairness. We think a lot about 
regulation.
  I was a regulator for nearly 10 years before becoming a Member of 
Congress. I regulated monopoly industries, and I was a rate regulator. 
When I was a rate regulator, setting the rates for electricity rates or 
natural gas, I had a lot of tools at my disposal, not the least of 
which was all of the evidence that the record could be filled with. In 
some cases, it was piles of evidence and lots of testimony. Everything 
was on the record. It is how you make good decisions. In the case where 
regulation was required and free markets weren't as free as they would 
be in other products, you tried to apply as a regulator the evidence to 
a circumstance that best reflected the market.
  Tonight, we are talking about something--and I appreciate 
Representative Collins' illustration of the government's thumb on the 
scale--where there has been a gross inequity, a gross injustice. It is 
where technology has certainly flourished, where innovation has 
flourished to the point at which opportunity to distribute and to enjoy 
music is unlike at any other time; but the songwriters have been left 
out of the innovation piece of it. They have been really biased against 
them.
  As I have studied this issue as it has been brought to my attention, 
I have looked at it, and I have thought, This just isn't fair. This 
just isn't fair. Frankly, the ultimate conclusion of this kind of 
antiquated regulatory policy would lead to a very important loss 
because people wouldn't be able to do this, not unless you think that 
Georgia and Tennessee are the only places there are songwriters. I was 
surprised to find out there were several hundred of them in my little 
State of North Dakota. It is amazing.
  One thing that all of us can agree on is that small business is the 
heart of our economy and that there is no smaller business than the 
single genius that writes music, right? That is the smallest of small 
businesses. We ought to get the government, to the degree we can, out 
of the way; but to the degree it requires regulation--and we understand 
it does require regulation as we are talking about copyright and as we 
are talking about broadcasting and as we are talking about things that 
are under the legitimate jurisdiction of the Federal Government's--we 
ought to at least be fair in how we do it, and we ought to be modern in 
how we carry it out.
  In addition to my friends, Representative Collins, Representative 
Blackburn, and others who have taught me so much about this important 
issue, I also want to thank a new friend who approached me at a concert 
that I attended just because I love him so much and love his music. I 
have loved it for decades. This is, I think, an important lesson of 
advocacy and an importance lesson of stick-to-itiveness. I had the 
opportunity to meet B.J. Thomas, who was a hero of mine while I was 
growing up. Do you know what he did with the time that we had together? 
He advocated not on his own behalf but on behalf of his friends, who 
provided the fuel for his success. He did so with a heavy heart based 
on the fact that his friends weren't treated as fairly and as equitably 
as he has been as a performer.
  It touched me deeply that this man, who had nothing, really, to gain 
by this advocacy, except, I suppose, the affection of his friends, 
cared enough to tell this lone Congressman from the little State of 
North Dakota about this really important issue. I am grateful he 
brought to it my attention.
  I am grateful for your leadership on it, and I am grateful to be here 
tonight to help shed some light on it and, hopefully, move the ball 
forward a little bit further.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Representative Cramer, that is such a great 
story.
  For those of us with many problems and dysfunction--you hear that up 
here all the time--to actually understand that we still believe this is 
the greatest country in the world and that Washington, D.C., and this 
Capitol, still represent a shining beacon that goes throughout the 
world and stands for freedom, hope, and opportunity, the story that you 
just told about B.J. Thomas, an artist who has profited off of 
songwriting, and his taking time to

[[Page 19911]]

talk to his Representative, that is what makes this country great.
  That is exactly what we are talking about here, letting things be 
known that we may not have known and seeing them in amazing places.
  You talked about your never knowing that your State of North Dakota 
is where you might meet a songwriter. As my friends are down here 
tonight, I just want to share one thing that came to my attention right 
as we were walking on the floor. You never know where songwriting comes 
from. Tonight, we have a special honor because, just outside these 
doors, protecting us here on Capitol Hill, is one of our aspiring 
songwriters--Capitol Hill Police Officer Kevin Reumont. I hope I 
pronounced that right. He is protecting Congress, and he also writes 
the soundtrack of our lives. Can you imagine a better way to think 
about that even in this building?
  Mr. CRAMER. I just have to say, since you brought it up, there is 
nothing that makes me much more emotional than a really good song; but 
the men and women who protect us in this Chamber make me as emotional 
as anything. I am grateful. It is a great story.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Thank you tonight for being a part of it.
  It moves along. We mentioned the great State of Tennessee, with Mrs. 
Blackburn and others who have been a part of this; but my friend just 
across the border in Chattanooga, Mr. Fleischmann, is here tonight, and 
he has a lot to share about Tennessee and Georgia and all across the 
country.
  We are just glad to have you here tonight to be a part of promoting 
as just was said, the ultimate entrepreneur, the person who is there, 
writing the song, the small business. So I am happy to yield to the 
gentleman from Tennessee to talk about that.
  Mr. FLEISCHMANN. I thank my colleague, Mr. Collins from the great 
State of Georgia--our sister State right to the south of us.
  Mr. Speaker, I represent the great State of Tennessee, as the 
gentleman alluded to--the great city of Chattanooga and the 
``Chattanooga Choo Choo,'' a great song.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. There we go.
  Mr. FLEISCHMANN. I came to Congress, and some very creative people 
came to see me. We get a lot of visits up here in Congress. Folks from 
all over the country come to see us. I got a knock at the door one day, 
and there were some songwriters. They were very talented men and women. 
What do they do? They write and perform songs. I was just so impressed. 
These are creative entrepreneurs, and some of the stories are 
outstanding.
  One gentleman came to see me, and he said: One day years ago, a long 
time ago, I wrote a song and went in and saw the great Johnny Cash. He 
liked my song, and he played my song. It went well, and that was his 
claim to fame.
  Another gentleman came in, and he mentioned a song. He said: I wrote 
that and played it for a fellow by the name of Frank Sinatra.
  Now, I remember those two great performers, but these were the folks 
who wrote the songs. This songwriter actually got to go and hear that 
recorded. Sinatra invited him, and it became a classic.
  I was surprised to learn, as my colleague from Georgia alluded to, of 
the Songwriter Equity Act, but there is some fundamental unfairness 
involved in the process, and I wanted to talk about that.
  Before I came to this great House, I practiced law for about 24 years 
in the city of Chattanooga. I loved practicing law, but when I was not 
practicing law, every once in a while, the judge wanted to go fishing, 
and he would let me preside as special judge. I really liked presiding 
over cases. As a matter of fact, I probably presided over several 
hundred cases over my legal career. I still keep a law license. But, as 
a judge, what did I hear? I heard evidence many times, and I want to 
refer to something that is very important in this whole debate.
  Right now, the way that the rates are set--and I want everyone who is 
watching this to understand this--fundamentally, the evidence cannot be 
considered by the judge in setting the rates for these performers.
  What I mean by that specifically is that these judges are not allowed 
by Federal law to consider sound recording royalty rates as relevant 
benchmarks when setting performance royalty rates for songwriters and 
composers. It is analogous to a judge who is hearing a case and saying: 
Well, I am not going to let you decide this, and that is not a good 
thing. These men and women come up every year. They play their songs, 
and they work very hard, and they want their share of the American 
Dream.
  Nashville is a great city. It is our capital city in the great State 
of Tennessee, and I love all of our State. I represent the Third 
District in east Tennessee: Chattanooga and Oak Ridge. Yet, when I 
travel to Nashville and when I see these men and women coming there, 
and there are literally hundreds of thousands of songwriters, what do 
they want? They want that one special song, or hopefully more, to 
click, for somebody to perform that.

                              {time}  1945

  And when they do, they ought to be rewarded. We ought to be 
incentivizing this because these are creative people, these are 
entrepreneurs.
  So it is my privilege to join the distinguished gentleman from 
Georgia who has this Songwriter Equity Act with, I believe, all of my 
colleagues from Tennessee. I want the American people to take a look at 
this.
  I urge Congress to take a look at this. This shouldn't be an issue 
about Republican or Democrat. This is an issue about giving these 
songwriters a fair shake.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Representative Fleischmann just 
made a great point. I don't hear a song that comes out on a platform--
and I think that one of the things we forget here is that this is not a 
discussion of how we get music, per se, and how innovators have decided 
that--you know, through wonderful things--Pandora Spotify, Apple Music, 
traditional radio, and the Internet--there are so many platforms, and 
those are wonderful. What we don't want to forget is the very system 
that has allowed them to begin is something that is taking away from 
the heart of the very songwriter issue.
  One of the reasons that we were talking about this is that music is 
the most regulated sector. Seventy-five percent of a songwriter's 
income is regulated, some of which go back, the mechanical right, to 
1909. They are still governed by player pianos. That is something that 
has got to change, and I think this is where we are at.
  What Representative Fleischmann brings is such a wonderful experience 
in what he has heard, and I appreciate him being a part of this. This 
highlights, again, that specialness.
  Whatever song may come out on a platform, I don't hear it come out 
saying it is Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, or 
whatever. It just comes out as a song that comes from the heart and 
mind of someone that touches the soul of others, and I think that is a 
wonderful thing to be a part of.
  Sometimes you make friends and you come together, and the great State 
of Georgia and the Big Apple come together. I was just recently there. 
It is amazing how you find commonality in music and how you find 
commonality in songs and songwriters.
  I am just very honored to have as my lead sponsor on the Songwriter 
Equity Act Representative Hakeem Jeffries from New York. We share some 
background, but we also share a love of music.
  Hakeem, I think--as we talk about this, there is a passion that shows 
this is not a regional issue and it is not a genre issue. It is a 
fairness issue. I think that is something we can come around and reach 
across the aisle and say let's look and work at how we best can do 
this.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to have Representative Jeffries as a part 
of this. He is a wonderful spokesman to be a part of fairness and what 
he does for his district, especially with the songwriting community in 
New York, with

[[Page 19912]]

Atlanta, with LA, with Nashville, and all over. This has been something 
that has brought us all together.
  I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries).
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the distinguished 
gentleman from Georgia, for convening us here today on this incredibly 
important issue on the House floor and, of course, for his 
extraordinary leadership on behalf of the songwriters in America.
  Over the years, I have gotten to know some very good country lawyers. 
I have also gotten to know some very good country preachers. My good 
friend from Georgia is the best of both worlds. We appreciate the 
tremendous skill set that he has brought to bear here in the United 
States Congress. We are members, of course, of the class of 2012. It 
has been wonderful to work closely with you in your capacity as the 
lead sponsor of this very important piece of legislation.
  Article I, section 8, clause 8, of the United States Constitution 
gives Congress, both the House and the Senate, the power to create a 
robust intellectual property system, in the words of our Founders, in 
order ``to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing 
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their 
respective Writings and Discoveries.''
  The Founders of this great country understood that it was important 
to create a robust intellectual property system in order to allow 
creators and innovators to be able to benefit from the fruits of their 
labor.
  Songwriters, of course, are at the heart of the music ecosystem, a 
music ecosystem that produces a variety of different forms of music.
  We know that there is country. There is pop. There is rock and roll. 
There is blues. There is bluegrass. There is jazz. There is Motown. 
There is hip-hop. There is R&B, which we tend to be partial to in the 
Eighth Congressional District.
  What all of them have in common is that someone had to create this 
music. At the heart of that creation, at the heart of the ecosystem, of 
course, is the songwriter.
  Now, if the songwriter were to disappear or to be diminished in 
number, then the whole system of music creation collapses. In many 
ways, that is what the Songwriter Equity Act is all about because of 
the inherent fundamental unfairness in the current system by which 
songwriters are compensated.
  Congressman Collins and I have been able to work closely with a 
variety of different stakeholders from throughout the Nation. 
Certainly, Nashville, Atlanta, and New York have wonderful songwriting 
communities.
  The chairman of ASCAP, Paul Williams, who has been a tremendous 
advocate, often has said before the Judiciary Committee and in other 
contexts that songwriters may be the most heavily regulated small-
business people in America.
  Unfortunately, that heavy regulation, as is often the case, is not 
benefiting them. In fact, in many ways, it is suffocating the 
songwriting community. It is not working to their benefit. It is not 
consistent with the DNA of our Constitution as it relates to 
intellectual property, which is to enable creators to benefit from the 
fruits of their labor.
  That is why the Songwriter Equity Act is such an important piece of 
legislation in order to allow those songwriters, who are spread out in 
all 435 congressional districts in every great State in the Union, to 
be able to participate fairly in the music ecosystem that is so central 
to the genres that we all know and love throughout our land.
  Music, of course, is universal in nature. It crosses all boundaries 
of race and religion, socioeconomics, region, cultural boundaries in 
this incredibly diverse Nation of more than 320 million people. That is 
why it has been so wonderful to participate in this journey as it 
relates to trying to do the right thing for the songwriters in this 
country.
  As has been pointed out by my colleague from Georgia and the other 
participants here, there are really two fundamental things that the 
Songwriter Equity Act attempts to correct.
  First, it is important to make sure that the rate courts, who often 
decide the compensation for songwriters in certain contexts, have an 
opportunity to consider all of the evidence so that they can arrive at 
an informed decision as to what makes the most sense.
  It is just illogical to believe that a rate court that is walled off 
from certain forms of evidence, such as the compensation received by 
recording artists, can arrive at a fair and equitable decision.
  In fact, what we have seen is that, over time, because this wall has 
existed, the compensation for recording artists has increased 
significantly. The compensation for songwriters has remained at an 
artificially low level. That is one of the things that we are trying to 
correct. Let all of the evidence be considered by the courts that are 
determining these rates.
  Lastly, the Songwriter Equity Act is designed to bring some notion of 
market fairness to the compensation of songwriters who create the music 
that we love. Right now, we have got artificially imposed regulatory 
rates on these songwriters in a manner that is not fair, that is not 
just, not consistent with a market-based approach that has made the 
United States so prosperous for so many other folks.
  That is why songwriters rightfully can say that this overregulation 
is not working for us. We would just like to be able to get the fair 
market value of our creations. That is what the Songwriter Equity Act 
is designed to do.
  So I am looking forward to working closely with my good friend from 
Georgia. He has been a tremendous leader in this regard. I am hopeful 
that we will be able to soon advance this legislation before the 
Judiciary Committee.
  It has tremendous bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats, 
Progressives and Conservatives. Let's advance this legislation out of 
Judiciary and onto the House floor and eventually get it to a place 
where it can be signed into law by the President.
  Thank you for your extraordinary leadership.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Jeffries. I think 
one thing you and I both would point out in this is this is not one 
against another. It is not playing off. It is just being fair for all 
involved.
  You have artists who enjoy a very good living based on songs that 
were written by others. In this process and this ecosystem, we are not 
minding the platform. We are just saying to be fair in the use of it.
  We want to see every opportunity for every songwriter to be a part, 
but also be equally compensated, fairly compensated, not more, not 
less, just fairly compensated.
  I think that is the one thing I want to make sure that our 
songwriters and composers out there understand, that they are all in 
this together. They have advocated and continue to advocate, but know 
that we all come together. We are the beneficiaries of their genius. I 
think that is the thing. I appreciate you so much.
  Tonight, as we are coming sort of to an end, many people have asked 
me: Doug, how did you get involved in this? How did a kid from north 
Georgia get involved with songwriters?
  Well, the amazing thing is Georgia has almost 50,000 songwriters 
registered with many--BMI is one of the groups that is registered. 
ASCAP's Paul Williams is a dear friend.
  Of course, he has a real connection to Georgia, for all the folks who 
are watching, Smokey and the Bandit. Paul has connections to so many 
things in songwriting. This is a multimillion-dollar business, and 
these are all small entrepreneurs.
  I wanted to highlight that, for me, it came personal. It comes from 
listening to my mother-in-law and her husband as they sing and they 
just go back to the old Shape note singing books of the churches in 
northeast Georgia.
  It goes to when my beautiful bride, Lisa, and I first started dating. 
One of the first things we did was went to a hootenanny, and this is 
where everybody just brought music. They brought their instruments, 
they brought everything, and they just began to sing. It came from the 
heart.

[[Page 19913]]

  In my office, I keep a file full--and I actually have some framed--of 
just words put to paper. Songs are simply expressions of the heart that 
are yielded from the mind through the heart that come out of the mouth 
that touch the souls of others.
  Then there is my dad and my mom. My dad went to school with a young 
man who went on to become known as Whispering Bill Anderson. He started 
his songwriting in my district, the Ninth District, living in Commerce, 
Georgia, at the time, at WWJC. The radio station is still there.
  My understanding of the story from Bill was he was on top of the 
building and he wrote this song, ``City Lights,'' which was performed 
by Ray Price. He has transcended the decades because one of his last 
songs was ``Whiskey Lullaby'' that was performed by Brad Paisley and 
Alison Krauss.
  You see, this is about stories. Neo is one of our Georgia folks. 
Streaming companies are making a lot of money off of an outdated system 
in which they are able to pay songwriters less than the fair market 
value for the right to use their work. This is Neo.
  It is time for Congress to stand with songwriters, 
#standwithsongwriters. I know there are many out there watching, on 
Twitter, Facebook. There are a lot of places where we can get this 
message out. This is simply about fairness.
  As I come to a close tonight, I am reminded even today of when I was 
in Iraq just a few years ago. There were songs that I would hear as I 
was driving around and I was meeting with some servicemembers out on 
the gate post. We would talk about a lot of things: family, love, life, 
problems.
  It would always come around and something would be on the radio and a 
song would come across. To this day, if a certain song is played--it 
could be ``Chicken Fried'' by the Zac Brown Band--I can still believe 
that I am still in Iraq. I still go back to those times and I see those 
young men and young women who are protecting us and are protecting us 
all over the world.
  You see, that is what the songwriter does. The songwriter takes the 
moment, crystallizes it, forms it, just as they would any product that 
they make that comes out of their mind, flowing straight from the 
heart, out of the mouth, onto a pad, through their hand, and touches 
lives around the world.
  It is time for Congress to look. It is time for Congress to 
understand that this is about small business and small entrepreneurs. 
It is time for Congress to stand with songwriters.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________