The American Music Fairness Act of 2025 updates copyright law to require terrestrial radio and internet broadcasters to pay royalties to artists for music played, while protecting small broadcasters with reduced rates and ensuring songwriters' royalties are not negatively impacted. The Act also directs royalty judges to consider the promotional value that broadcasters provide to artists when setting royalty rates.
Darrell Issa
Representative
CA-48
The American Music Fairness Act of 2025 updates copyright law to include terrestrial broadcasts and internet services for audio transmissions, ensuring that artists are compensated for their work when played on these platforms. It establishes specific royalty fees for small broadcasters and ensures that the promotional value that broadcasters provide to artists is considered when setting royalty rates. The Act also protects songwriters and music copyright owners by ensuring the law does not negatively impact their public performance rights or royalties. A portion of royalties from direct licenses will be paid to a collective for distribution to artists, copyright owners, and record labels.
American Music Fairness Act Aims to Pay Artists for Radio Play, Sets Flat Fees for Small Broadcasters
The American Music Fairness Act of 2025 is trying to fix a long-standing issue in the music world: getting artists paid when their music is played on traditional AM/FM radio. This bill updates copyright law so that terrestrial broadcasts (that's your regular radio stations) and internet services are treated the same when it comes to paying for the music they play. It also sets some ground rules for royalty rates, especially for smaller broadcasters, and makes sure artists get a cut of royalties, even when there are direct deals between music services and record labels. The core idea is to make sure everyone who contributes to the music you hear gets a fair piece of the pie.
Remixed Royalties: Who Gets What?
This bill changes up a few key things. First, it expands the rights of copyright holders (think songwriters, music publishers, and record labels). Right now, those folks don't get paid when their music is played on AM/FM radio. This bill changes Section 106 of the U.S. Copyright law to say that copyright holders have the right to be paid for any public performance of their music, whether it's on the internet or over the airwaves (SEC. 2). For example, imagine a local band whose song gets picked up by a small-town radio station. Under current law, the band wouldn't see a dime. Under this bill, they would. The act also makes sure that 50% of royalties from direct licenses (deals made directly between a music service and a record label) are split between the featured artists, non-featured artists (like backup singers and session musicians), copyright owners, and record labels (SEC. 5).
Small Station, Small Fee?
The bill sets specific, low royalty rates for smaller broadcasters (SEC. 4). If a station makes less than $100,000 a year, they pay just $10 per year to play all the music they want. Public broadcasting entities making between $100,000 and $1.5 million annually pay $100 per year. Other stations in that revenue range pay $500 annually. To qualify, the station's total revenue needs to be under $1.5 million, and the owner/operator's total revenue (including any other businesses they own) needs to be under $10 million. Stations have to certify they're eligible every year by January 31st. This could be a good deal for truly small, local stations, but it also raises a question: could bigger companies try to restructure to fit under these limits and avoid paying higher rates?
The Airplay Value Debate
Another significant change is how the Copyright Royalty Judges will set royalty rates in the future. The bill tells them to consider the "promotional value" of radio airplay (SEC. 7). Basically, they have to look at whether radio play helps sell records or hurts sales. This is a tricky one. On the one hand, radio play can introduce people to new music. On the other hand, if people can hear a song for free on the radio anytime, are they less likely to buy it? This could lead to some tough negotiations about how much radio play is really worth.
The American Music Fairness Act tries to balance the scales in the music industry. It aims for fairer pay for artists and copyright holders, and it attempts to protect small broadcasters. However, the details matter. How the "promotional value" of radio is calculated, and whether bigger companies try to exploit the small broadcaster rules, will determine whether this bill really levels the playing field or just shifts the imbalances.