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trubluTopic starter

PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNS NEW MUSIC LAW ...
Kanye Just Misses It

President Trump was surrounded by a ton of music greats at the White House Thursday morning, as he signed a new law that will benefit many of them ... but Kanye West was not in on the fun.
POTUS signed the Music Modernization Act with John Rich, Kid Rock and several other artists standing by to make speeches about the new law, and also to witness the actual signing.

It all went down moments before Kanye's luncheon with 45 was scheduled to begin, so everyone expected Ye to join the other artists ... but he got to the White House juuuust a bit late.
As we told you ... Kanye is there now -- he didn't come empty-handed -- and the lunch meeting with the Prez, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Jim Brown is set to begin.
Stand by for fireworks ... and photo ops.


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trubluTopic starter

A Hit Songwriter Explains Why The Music Modernization Act Is At A Tipping Point

Talk to any songwriter about music royalties, and you're bound to hear a sigh — followed by a very complicated answer.

The abridged story goes something like this: In 1909, the U.S. government believed that there was a monopoly of publishing companies over piano-player rolls, so Congress passed a law saying they must license their copyrights at a price set by the federal government. That rate of two cents held until 1976, well past the time when piano-player rolls were a thing (unless you count Westworld). In fact, by then, record players, Elvis and The Beatles had already come and gone. By 1976, Congress decided that "mechanical royalty" rates would be determined every five years by a panel of three judges. And in 1941, a consent decree was issued by the government to protect the broadcast industry from songwriting collection agencies.

All this is to say that the federal government regulates about 75% of what songwriters are paid to this day.

The Music Modernization Act (MMA) is legislation meant to change all that. It's large and complex, but it broadly sets out to pay songwriters fairly for streaming, establish a collective that overlooks where mechanical royalties go, and streamline how money is collected.

With unparalleled support among all factions of the music industry, the bill passed the House of Representatives in a 415-0 vote earlier this year. But as the congressional session nears its end, there's a time crunch to pass the legislation through the Senate. The bill was notably slowed down by an amendment backed by the music company SESAC in July. However, the company insists that its insertion was to promote competition.


As momentum for the bill comes to a head, Ross Golan has become the movement's de facto leader among songwriters. His posts across social media have been a call to action for creatives to make a change — and it's working. As a songwriter, my feed has been dominated by his reposts.

I've already talked to Golan about penning Flo Rida's "My House," Ariana Grande's "Dangerous Woman" and creating the podcast "And The Writer Is." So I was eager to hear his take on the MMA, and how he believes it will reshape the industry. (Full disclosure: For many years I was a staffer for Congressman Jerrold Nadler, one of the bill's key supporters.) Here's our chat:
 
Danny Ross: Despite the hiccup of last week's amendment, are you feeling optimistic about the bill's passage in the Senate?
Ross Golan: Things are moving positively right now. People like Adam Levine and Little Big Town have been stepping up to support the bill. We're trying to explain to senators why we need this passed and why we need it now. We need it before the November election, because once there's a new Congress, the process starts over. This is do-or-die time for songwriters.

Ross: So where is the MMA in the legislative process right now?

Golan: It passed the House unanimously, and now Senate Major Leader Mitch McConnell decides when to put a vote up on the floor. At this moment, we have 46 committed yes. When the SESAC amendment was added, Sen. Ted Cruz said he wouldn't vote until this is figured out — so many senators want to see what happens with the amendment process before they commit. But when it gets ironed out, hopefully those uncommitted senators will support the bill. Right now, time on the Senate floor is really valuable because it's an election year, so ideally we'll get 60 senators to support the bill and then there's absolutely no question that it goes through.

Right now we just need the songwriter and artist community to hold each other accountable, and to not get lazy thinking someone else will make a change for us. I'm keeping an updated list of non-committed senators — contact them!

Ross: Is it truly supported unanimously across the music industry?

Golan: It's so unanimous that even the labels and streaming services are supporting it because we all realize the current environment is really bad for songwriters. This is the first time in music history that you've had all genres and all company affiliations on the same side. You don't have BMI versus ASCAP, Spotify versus songwriters, labels versus publishers, managers versus producers. It's genuinely a unanimous desire to move our industry forward. This is the end of us being in the past.

Ross: Can you give us an example of how songwriters are getting the short end of the stick?

Golan: If a song has 100 million streams, it creates around $3.5 million on the master for the labels and artists — but only 4% of that goes to the publishing. So in that case, it's creating around $140k in mechanical royalties for songwriters. And that's often split four ways, which leaves about $35,000 per person. There are currently 12 songs that have a billion streams. That creates about $35 million on the master side, and only 4% of that goes to the writers.

So you end up in a situation where streaming hits make significant revenue for the master side, and a comically low amount of money for the writers. And we have no bargaining power in the current system. We're legally unable to negotiate on our own behalf. This bill gives us an opportunity to have a conversation.

Ross: What should non-musicians know about the legislation?

Golan: This isn't an attack on the consumer. The consumer won't be picking up the bill. This is about being fair to music creators.

Ross: Are you confident that this legislation, if passed, will reshape the industry?

Golan: Yes, 100% without a doubt. If you boost 1 cent of the mechanical royalty, the entire publishing community gets a 10% boost. If it goes up 2, 3, or 4 cents, you're talking about a 40% boost in publishing. With the growth of streaming, the people who have been left behind are songwriters — and we're not going to be left behind anymore if this passes.

Danny Ross is a pop songwriter and producer in Brooklyn. He formed the band Babetown with his wife, Jess. They met on the subway and covered Ryan Adams in the style of Taylor Swift.

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