Bill > HR861

This bill, known as the American Music Fairness Act of 2025, aims to create a performance right for sound recordings on terrestrial radio broadcasts, which means traditional AM/FM radio stations would now need to pay royalties to artists and record labels when they play music. The bill establishes a tiered royalty system that provides special protection for small broadcasters, with reduced annual fees based on the station's revenue: stations earning less than $100,000 annually would pay just $10 per year, public broadcasting stations with revenues between $100,000 and $1.5 million would pay $100 annually, and non-public stations in the same revenue range would pay $500 annually. The legislation also ensures that the new royalty requirements do not negatively impact songwriters' existing performance rights and requires the Copyright Royalty Judges to consider the promotional value of radio play when setting rates. Additionally, the bill mandates that 50% of royalties from direct licensing agreements be distributed to featured and non-featured artists, and it sets up a framework for determining and collecting these royalties over the period ending in 2028. The fundamental goal of the bill is to create a more equitable system that compensates musicians for the use of their recorded music on traditional radio platforms.

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https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/861/all-info