HR 1283 · 114th Congress 2015–2017, ended

Songwriter Equity Act of 2015

Introduced Mar 4, 2015 Originated House Sponsor Doug Collins R-GA

Latest action · Mar 31, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedMar 4, 2015
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Songwriter Equity Act of 2015

Amends federal copyright law regarding the exclusive rights of sound recording copyright owners to remove a provision that prohibits license fees payable for the public performance of sound recordings, by means of a digital audio transmission, from being taken into account in any administrative, judicial, or other governmental proceeding to set or adjust the royalties payable to copyright owners of musical works for the public performance of their works.

Requires Copyright Royalty Judges (CRJs), when setting royalty rates under the compulsory license available for the reproduction and distribution of musical works (commonly referred to as a "mechanical license"), to establish rates and terms that most clearly represent the rates and terms that would have been negotiated in the marketplace between a willing buyer and seller.

Requires CRJs, in establishing such rates and terms, to base their decision on marketplace, economic, and use information presented by the participants. Allows consideration of comparable uses and circumstances under voluntary license agreements.

Cosponsors 42

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 4, 2015 to Dec 2, 2016; 13 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-CA	Adam B. Schiff	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-CA	Alan S. Lowenthal	Original	Mar 4, 2015
R-TN	David P. Roe	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-NY	Hakeem S. Jeffries	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-NY	Jerrold Nadler	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-TN	Jim Cooper	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-CA	Judy Chu	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-CA	Lucille Roybal-Allard	Original	Mar 4, 2015
R-TN	Marsha Blackburn	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-TN	Steve Cohen	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-FL	Theodore E. Deutch	Original	Mar 4, 2015
R-FL	Thomas J. Rooney	Original	Mar 4, 2015
D-CA	Tony Cárdenas	Original	Mar 4, 2015
R-TN	Diane Black		Mar 10, 2015
D-MI	John Conyers, Jr.		Mar 24, 2015
D-CA	Karen Bass		Mar 24, 2015
D-CA	Ted Lieu		Apr 13, 2015
D-PA	Robert A. Brady		Apr 23, 2015
R-ND	Kevin Cramer		May 5, 2015
R-TN	Stephen Lee Fincher		May 12, 2015
D-RI	David N. Cicilline		May 13, 2015
R-AZ	Trent Franks		May 19, 2015
R-TN	Charles J. "Chuck" Fleischmann		Jun 1, 2015
R-TX	Louie Gohmert		Jun 12, 2015
D-CA	Brad Sherman		Jun 16, 2015
D-CA	Janice Hahn		Jun 25, 2015
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton		Jul 7, 2015
D-NY	Louise McIntosh Slaughter		Jul 7, 2015
D-FL	Debbie Wasserman Schultz		Oct 1, 2015
D-NY	Joseph Crowley		Oct 6, 2015
D-CA	Grace F. Napolitano		Dec 1, 2015
R-NV	Cresent Hardy		Dec 2, 2015
D-CA	Linda T. Sánchez		Dec 8, 2015
D-CA	Julia Brownley		Dec 18, 2015
R-CO	Scott R. Tipton		Jan 5, 2016
D-NY	Carolyn B. Maloney		Jan 13, 2016
R-TX	Pete Sessions		May 27, 2016
D-NJ	Bonnie Watson Coleman		Jun 7, 2016
D-WA	Jim McDermott		Jul 21, 2016
D-CA	Jared Huffman		Sep 21, 2016
D-OH	Marcy Kaptur		Nov 14, 2016
R-CA	Stephen Knight		Dec 2, 2016

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Judiciary Committee	Referred Mar 4, 2015
	Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee	Referred Mar 31, 2015

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

Mar 31, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
Mar 4, 2015Introduced in House
Mar 4, 2015Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

In the Congressional Record 2

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

Where	In the Record	Members	Date
House	Debate and remarks H4061	Marsha Blackburn R-TN	Jun 22, 2016
House · Extensions	Debate and remarks E1753, H9198–H9201	Charles J. "Chuck" Fleischmann R-TN, Doug Collins R-GA, Hakeem S. Jeffries D-NY, Kevin Cramer R-ND, Louise McIntosh Slaughter D-NY	Dec 9, 2015

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Clause 8 of Section 8 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution. To promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 37, March 4, 2015, page H1616.

Printed hearings 1

Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.

Number	Hearing	Committee	Held
S. Hrg. 114-718	OPIOID ABUSE IN AMERICA: FACING THE EPIDEMIC AND EXAMINING SOLUTIONS71 pages	Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee	Dec 8, 2015

CRS reports 1

Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.

Cite it 1

Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.

Product	Title	Kind	Published
RL33631	Copyright Licensing in Music Distribution, Reproduction, and Public Performance Archived	Report	Sep 22, 2015

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 662	Songwriter Equity Act of 2015	Identical bill	Mar 4, 2015

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To amend title 17, United States Code, to ensure fairness in the establishment of certain rates and fees under sections 114 and 115 of such title, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced: Songwriter Equity Act of 2015

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Commerce.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Mar 4, 2015Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.