Songwriter Equity Act makes a comeback in the USA

Yesterday the Songwriter Equity Act was been reintroduced by Congressman Doug Collins and Senator Orrin Hatch in both houses of Congress after failing to pass before the end of the 113th Congressional term, Billboard reports. 

The Act had been introduced in February 2014 but failed to pass in time before the end of the 113th Congressional term. 

Although the Copyright Office recently called for a comprehensive reform of the US Copyright system rather than a piecemeal approach - especially when it comes to music rights - the Act specifically focuses on Sections 114 and 115 of the Copyright Act. 

The changes would enable the rate court to consider other royalty rates as evidence when deciding fair rate standards - this would include considering those paid for master recordings. 

The hope is that these changes will enable the rate court to grow the slice of the pie that goes to songwriters, and as such is obviously supported by organisations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, the NMPA and the Nashville Songwriters Association. 

The key question mark when it comes to increasing the slice of the pie that goes to songwriters is where that increase is going to come from. Services like Pandora are still struggling to be profitable and are likely to lobby heavily against a further reduction of their margins. At the same time, labels are also facing hard times (just look at UMG’s latest results…) and are unlikely to be willing to reduce their revenues to accommodate publishers. 

 

(Andrea Leonelli)