After November’s midterm elections, a restructured Congress and Supreme Court are more likely to remodel immigration, union labor and well being care — broad points that additionally would instantly have an effect on working musicians within the United States. For labels and artists alike, probably the most imminent political concern is the Music Modernization Act. And due to a just lately reached handshake deal between Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE, a lead proponent) and Ron Wyden (D-OR, who beforehand created a roadblock after the MMA handed the House), the laws is seemingly on a path to go within the Senate, most certainly by the tip of this time period.
That’s a reduction for the RIAA and different advocates who’ve pushed the MMA for years — particularly for the reason that subsequent Congress is definite to look very completely different when it convenes in January 2019 and educating newly elected officers on the act might stall its progress. “We all believe the MMA has to pass in this congressional session,” says Daryl P. Friedman, chief {industry}, authorities and member relations officer for the Recording Academy. “We have everything lined up. It’s been years in the making.”
The MMA updates funds by permitting artists and publishers to earn royalties on recordings made earlier than 1972 and helps songwriters and producers receives a commission extra effectively within the streaming period. It cruised unanimously by way of the House in April and handed the Senate Judiciary Committee in June, however opposition from SiriusXM and music and video companies like Music Choice have just lately brought on delays. Still, it’s one of many uncommon payments with Republican and Democrat congressional help on this divided political period.
“Our issues are largely bipartisan, and we’re very lucky that way,” says Michele Ballantyne, an RIAA govt vp. “But with all the turnover that’s going to happen, we are going to be faced with a brand-new crew of incoming members in the House and the Senate. That’s going to consume a lot of our time after the elections.”
But it’s President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, who might have the most important influence on musicians. (Kavanaugh’s affirmation hearings have been accomplished Sept. 7, with the purpose of seating him by Oct. 1, the beginning of the court docket’s new time period.) Symphony and orchestra musicians, for instance, depend on unions to barter higher salaries and office circumstances, and union leaders have criticized Kavanaugh as “anti-worker.” “He definitely favors big companies versus the small guy,” says Yona Rozen, the AFL-CIO’s affiliate common counsel. “The people who are doing the day-in and day-out work and small gigs and different clubs are not going to be the kinds of parties he tends to view as having rights.”
Kavanaugh’s previous ruling that undocumented staff aren’t assured workers’ rights ought to fear immigrants who tour U.S. golf equipment. “It will be much more difficult for talented people to come to the U.S., and remain in the U.S., under a very conservative Supreme Court,” says Harvey Mars, an lawyer for American Federation of Musicians’ Local 802 in New York. And whereas Kavanaugh’s place on well being care is much less clear, it’s unlikely {that a} Trump appointee would favor Obamacare. “For musicians who tend to be freelance, having the Affordable Care Act was key,” says John Acosta, president of the AFM’s Local 47 in Los Angeles, which represents 7,00zero musicians. “The [Affordable Care Act] is being dismantled every day by the Trump administration. By the time Kavanaugh gets on the Supreme Court, it’ll be just another nail in the coffin.”
There’s no music-related litigation on the rapid horizon for SCOTUS, and Kavanaugh hasn’t made any rulings or statements that point out his opinions on copyright or different industry-specific points. The final large music concern to return earlier than the court docket was MGM Studios vs. Grokster 12 years in the past, which primarily made Napster-style file-sharing companies unlawful — and the vote was unanimous. “Kavanaugh, as far as I’ve been able to find, doesn’t have any definitive copyright or intellectual-property cases under his belt,” says Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposed report companies’ early-2000s lawsuits towards shoppers for unlawful downloads. “But come back in six months — I think a lot will happen that will be illuminating.”
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 15 issue of Billboard.
