Senate Judiciary Clears PCLOB Nominees, Postpones Music Modernization Act Vote
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance two Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board nominees and held over a markup of the Music Modernization Act music licensing legislative package (S-2823). Senate Judiciary advanced PCLOB nominees Edward Felten and Jane Nitze on voice votes Thursday. A markup of S-2823 will happen next week, as expected (see 1805250036), Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters.
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Grassley and Senate Judiciary ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., both noted ongoing work on a manager's amendment aimed at tweaking S-2823. The bill, like its House-passed companion (HR-5447), includes revised language that differs from an earlier version of MMA (HR-4706/S-2334), plus text from the Compensating Legacy Artists for Their Songs, Service and Important Contributions to Society Act (HR-3301) and the Allocation for Music Producers Act (HR-881). The House passed HR-5447 in April, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, filed S-2823 in May (see 1804250078 and 1805100072).
Feinstein and an aide told reporters her main concern is including language in S-2823 that would ensure the Mechanical Licensing Collective set up in the bill can locate songwriters owed royalty payments. “All you can do is provide the opportunity” to ensure the MLC vigorously works to locate the songwriters, Feinstein said. The Feinstein aide denied the senator is aiming to tweak the makeup of the proposed collective's board so it features equal songwriter representation. MMA's authors earlier agreed to double the number of songwriters and composers represented on the MLC's board and shift the balance on a proposed Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee so half its members come from the music creator community and half from music publishers (see 1802090021).
Grassley said he's eager to see Senate Judiciary clear S-2823. “We've been trying to get” stakeholders together to reach a compromise on music licensing issues “I'll bet for 15 years,” he said. “And I'm quite shocked that we were able to get them together now.” Hatch told reporters he doesn't believe the Accessibility for Curators, Creators, Educators, Scholars and Society (Access) to Recordings Act, which Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., filed last month (see 1805230068), will be a barrier to S-2823 passing Senate Judiciary. “I don't see any reason why we can't get” the bill out of Senate Judiciary, Hatch said. Several content industry groups criticized the Access to Recordings Act (see 1805300040 and 1806130056).
The “level of music industry support behind [S-2823] is virtually unprecedented,” Hatch said during the Senate Judiciary meeting. “I’ve tried to be as inclusive as possible in negotiating the bill so that all sides have an opportunity to be heard, and I hope” that will continue to be the case as “we head into markup next week," he said. "I want to be a team player on this, and that means working together with all of us.”