Bill > HR5664

This bill establishes the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund to provide a living wage for musicians by creating a new financial mechanism for compensating artists who stream their music. The fund will be administered by a designated non-profit entity and will be primarily funded through an additional fee charged to music streaming service subscribers, which will be 50% of the existing subscription fee (but not less than $4 or more than $10). The collected funds will be distributed quarterly, with 90% going to featured artists based on their proportion of qualifying streams (up to 1 million streams per month) and 10% going to non-featured artists like session musicians and backup vocalists through existing union distribution funds. The bill defines an "artist" as a human creator, explicitly excluding corporate entities and AI-generated content, and requires service providers to track and report streaming data. Service providers must also maintain records for at least three years and are prohibited from including the new royalty fee in their cost calculations. The Fund Administrator will have the authority to establish penalties for non-compliance and will attempt to ensure payments reach the correct artists, with unclaimed funds being held in a trust account and potentially returned to the general fund if the artist cannot be identified.

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https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5664/all-info