HR5664-119

What This Bill Does

The Living Wage for Musicians Act creates a new royalty fund outside ordinary per-stream licensing. The Register of Copyrights, with Librarian of Congress approval, must designate an eligible nonprofit Fund Administrator, publish contact information and reasons for the designation, and have the Administrator operate the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund. Streaming service providers must send the Fund quarterly collections from a living wage royalty fee and 10 percent of non-subscription revenue. The fee is charged to subscribers at 50 percent of the subscription fee, with a floor of $4 and a ceiling of $10, and must appear as a separate receipt line item. The Fund distributes 90 percent to eligible featured artists based on each artist's share of qualifying streams, with a 1 million-stream monthly cap per master recording per artist, and 10 percent to eligible non-featured artists through the AFM SAG-AFTRA IP Rights Distribution Fund or successor. Service providers must keep records for at least three years; the Fund Administrator can require revenue, fee, and stream data, audit service-provider records, and set penalties by regulation. The definitions exclude corporate entities and fully generative artificial intelligence from artist status.

Who Benefits and How

Eligible featured artists benefit from quarterly Fund payments based on qualifying streams and a cap that limits domination by the highest-volume recordings. Eligible non-featured artists benefit because 10 percent of the Fund flows through the AFM SAG-AFTRA IP Rights Distribution Fund. The designated Fund Administrator benefits from a statutory role collecting fees, receiving revenue transfers, auditing service providers, and distributing payments. Human recording artists benefit because the definition of artist excludes corporate entities and fully generative artificial intelligence.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Streaming service providers must charge the living wage royalty fee, show it as a line item, transfer fee revenue and 10 percent of non-subscription revenue, retain records, provide data, and face audits. Music subscribers pay the additional 50 percent fee, subject to the $4 minimum and $10 maximum. The Register of Copyrights must designate the eligible entity and publish the Federal Register notice. The Fund Administrator must identify artists, hold unclaimed payments in trust, maintain records, audit providers, and set penalties.

Key Provisions

• Creates the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund and a nonprofit Fund Administrator selected by the Register of Copyrights.
• Requires streaming service providers to transfer quarterly living wage royalty fee collections and 10 percent of non-subscription revenue.
• Provides 90 percent of Fund money to eligible featured artists and 10 percent to eligible non-featured artists.
• Requires a subscriber fee equal to 50 percent of the subscription fee, with a $4 floor and $10 ceiling.
• Requires service-provider records, data reporting, audits, and penalties for violations.
• Defines artist to mean a human creator and excludes corporate entities and fully generative artificial intelligence.