Songwriters Weigh-In on the Music Modernization Act

After further negotiations between songwriter groups and music publishers, songwriters may have a bigger role in participating in how an agency created to expedite a proposed blanket mechanical license will conduct business. That is, if the Music Modernization Act is passed.

What the law ultimately says is up to members of the House and Senate, who will write the legislation and the subsequent regulations, but in the meantime, negotiations between the Songwriters Guild of America, Nashville Songwriters Association International, and Songwriters of North America and the National Music Publisher’s Association have resulted in a proposal that allows songwriters and composers to have four seats on the now-expanded 14-seat board of directors, instead of the initially allotted two seats for songwriters on a smaller 10-seat board; while the unclaimed royalties oversight committee will now be evenly divided between publishers and songwriters. It also has resulted in additional clarifications to how payouts from unclaimed funds are distributed.

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