House Judiciary Republicans Eye Reaching Terrestrial Performance Royalty in Next Congress

House Judiciary Committee GOP leaders signaled before a Wednesday voice vote on the American Music Fairness Act (HR-4130) they intend to continue pursuing a compromise on music royalties legislation when their party regains control of the chamber in the next Congress. HR-4130, filed last year (see 2108120059), would levy a performance royalty on stations playing music on terrestrial radio. Lawmakers reintroduced the bill in September (see 2209220076).

“I don't think … that this bill is going to pass both the House and Senate and become law” since there’s less than a month left before the end of this Congress, said House Judiciary ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who’s on tap to take the panel gavel in January. “While today's debate is an important start to this conversation,” negotiations “must resume next year.” It’s “critically important that Congress get these issues right” by “balancing the interests of music performers being compensated and accounting … for the interests of the broadcast radio industry as well,” Jordan said: “We believe there is a deal to be struck here that is fair to all sides” and “historically this committee moves copyright legislation on a consensus basis. These issues are not and should not be partisan.”

House IP Subcommittee ranking member and lead HR-4130 GOP sponsor Darrell Issa of California echoed Jordan’s interest in pursuing a compromise. “It's time to find that middle ground, get it over with and get past this idea that we should be in company of North Korea, Cuba and Iran” in not providing a terrestrial right, Issa said. “It’s my intention to work not just across the aisle but across the Capitol” on a compromise. “Voting positively” on HR-4130 “does not say that we got everything right, but we considered each one of the elements,” he said: “I believe that we can get to yes, as long as we stand together and say we know that the right number is not zero.”

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who quietly led behind-the-scenes negotiations toward a bipartisan deal, noted longstanding concerns from NAB and other broadcaster advocates about enacting a terrestrial right. “They argue that they would suffer, and perhaps would have to close their doors, if they had to pay these public performance royalties,” he said: “We recognize the unique and vital services local and public radio stations provide to so many of our communities,” which “is why this legislation protects these small radio stations by excluding them from paying what the large broadcasting corporations would be required to pay.”

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, urged both sides to find “a pathway to work together” in the next Congress on a royalties deal. “When we get into our local communities we find that artists and particularly minority stations work together,” she said: “It’s just when we get out of the local pond into the national arena we seem to put on boxing gloves and can’t get a resolution.”

NAB wants “the recording industry to join us in serious discussions instead of using the few legislative days left in the calendar to pursue divisive legislation that faces broad congressional opposition,” said President Curtis LeGeyt after House Judiciary’s clearance of HR-4130. He noted more than 250 members of Congress currently co-sponsor the Supporting Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 33/S. Con. Res. 9), which the group regularly touts as a measure of congressional opposition to a terrestrial right. “These lawmakers understand that AMFA will harm local broadcasters and audiences around the country, undermine our ability to serve their communities and ultimately fail artists by leading to less music airplay.”

House Judiciary’s decision to move on HR-4130 “sends a powerful message to artists everywhere that they are respected, that their work has value, and that their commitment to making the soundtrack of our lives is appreciated -- not only by those who listen to their songs, but also by those who sit in positions of power in our nation’s capital,” said musicFIRST Coalition Chairman Joe Crowley, a former House Democratic Caucus chairman.