Protect Working Musicians Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9253 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9253

 To empower independent music creator owners to collectively negotiate
with dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which their music
                          may be distributed.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 10, 2026

 Ms. Ross (for herself, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Doggett, and Mr. Goldman of New
    York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To empower independent music creator owners to collectively negotiate
with dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which their music
                          may be distributed.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Working Musicians Act of
2026''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Music is a cultural treasure and a unique source of
        spiritual inspiration, emotional comfort, community connection,
        and joy. It is also a powerful economic driver that directly
        and indirectly supports nearly 2 million American jobs and
        almost $150 billion in annual economic activity.
            (2) A healthy music ecosystem is a fundamental bedrock for
        a healthy society.
            (3) Fair and competitive markets for the use and licensing
        of recorded music and musical works are integral to a healthy
        music ecosystem.
            (4) As music distribution has moved online, the market for
        use and licensing has become distorted and imbalanced. The
        largest Dominant Online Music Distribution Platforms use their
        market power to distort legal requirements and force music
        creators into licensing agreements that do not reflect market
        value. Those agreements essentially dictate a price to music
        creators. If music creators do not agree to licensing terms,
        the online platforms profit from unlicensed uploads of music
        anyway.
            (5) These platforms game the system created by the Digital
        Millennium Copyright Act, which allows dominant online
        platforms to ignore and profit from unlicensed use of music and
        places the responsibility for finding each and every instance
        of unlicensed use of music on music creators. This ``notice and
        takedown'' scheme has been described as a gigabit-speed game of
        whack-a-mole.
            (6) The trade association for the major record labels
        spends millions of dollars engaged in this effort which it says
        has grown to be ``largely useless.'' The trade association for
        the independent record labels agrees, calling it a
        ``dysfunctional relic''.
            (7) An effort that is largely useless for major and
        independent record labels is an exercise in futility for
        Independent Music Creator Owners--those who own the copyrights
        to musical works or sound recordings and market their work
        themselves. Independent Music Creator Owners lack the economic,
        legal, and political resources to stand up to the Dominant
        Online Music Distribution Platforms and have no way to
        meaningfully negotiate fair licensing rates for their work.
            (8) That power imbalance means that Independent Music
        Creator Owners are forced to take whatever terms dominant
        online platforms offer for their work. If they decline, the
        platforms simply ignore them since in most cases lacking access
        to any single artists' work does not present a threat to the
        platforms' overall attractiveness to consumers.
            (9) This imbalance has decimated careers in music at an
        untold cost to our society and culture. Multi Grammy-award
        winning musician Rosanne Cash recently lamented: ``I see young
        musicians give up their missions and dreams all the time
        because they can't make a living.''.
            (10) The antitrust laws were intended to and do provide
        important economic and civic benefits.
            (11) A central purpose of these laws is to promote,
        protect, and strengthen fair and open markets, including those
        for music.
            (12) While antitrust exemptions are generally disfavored,
        should the application of the antitrust laws ever be applied in
        a manner that conflicts with their purpose--such as protecting
        the online marketplace for creative works--it is the duty and
        prerogative of the Congress to resolve the conflict.

SEC. 3. SAFE HARBOR FOR CERTAIN COLLECTIVE NEGOTIATIONS.

    (a) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            (1) The term ``antitrust laws'' has the meaning given such
        term in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act
        (15 U.S.C. 12), and includes--
                    (A) section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act
                (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that such section applies
                to unfair methods of competition; and
                    (B) any State law, rule, or regulation that
                prohibits or penalizes the conduct described in, or is
                otherwise inconsistent with, subsection (b) of this
                section.
            (2) The term ``Dominant Online Music Distribution
        Platform'' means any entity that--
                    (A) operates an app, website or other online
                service that is used by members of the public to listen
                to sound recordings, whether via a digital audio
                transmission, an audio-visual presentation, or any
                other means;
                    (B) has annual revenues related to the distribution
                of music of more than $100 million; and
                    (C) is not eligible for a license under section
                114(d)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code.
            (3) The term ``generative artificial intelligence'' means
        an artificial intelligence system that is capable of generating
        novel text, video, images, audio, and other media based on
        prompts or other forms of data provided by a person.
            (4) The term ``Individual Music Creator Owner'' means--
                    (A) any musician or group of musician, producers,
                mixers, and sound engineers or any corporation,
                partnership or other entity engaged in the business of
                using a sound recording for commercial purpose that--
                            (i) owns the copyrights to one or more
                        sound recordings; and
                            (ii) either--
                                    (I) has earned less than $1,000,000
                                in licensing revenues associated with
                                these copyrights in the prior year; or
                                    (II) qualifies as a small business
                                under the Office of Management and
                                Budget North American Industry
                                Classification System (NAICS) code
                                512250; or
                    (B) any songwriter or group of songwriters and
                producers or any corporation, partnership or other
                entity engaged in the business of using a musical work
                for commercial purpose that--
                            (i) owns the copyrights to one or more
                        musical works; and
                            (ii) either--
                                    (I) has earned less than $1,000,000
                                in licensing revenues associated with
                                musical work copyrights in the prior
                                year; or
                                    (II) qualifies as a small business
                                under the Office of Management and
                                Budget North American Industry
                                Classification System (NAICS) code
                                512230.
            (5) The term ``musical work'' means a song's underlying
        composition created by a songwriter or composer along with any
        accompanying lyrics.
            (6) The term ``sound recording'' has the meaning given such
        term in section 101 of title 17 of the United States Code.
            (7) The term ``songwriter'' has the meaning given such term
        in section 115(e)(32) of title 17 of the United States Code.
    (b) Limitation of Liability.--An Individual Music Creator Owner
shall not be held liable under the antitrust laws for agreeing with
other Individual Music Creator Owners to collectively negotiate music
licensing terms with a Dominant Online Music Distribution Platform or a
company engaged in development or deployment of generative artificial
intelligence, or agreeing with other Individual Music Creator Owners to
collectively refuse to license their music to a Dominant Online Music
Distribution Platform or a company engaged in development or deployment
of generative artificial intelligence, if--
            (1) the negotiations are not limited to price, are
        nondiscriminatory as to similarly situated independent creator/
        owners;
            (2) the coordination among Independent Music Creator Owners
        is directly related to and reasonably necessary for
        negotiations with a Dominant Online Music Distribution Platform
        that are otherwise consistent with the operation of the
        Antitrust laws; and
            (3) the negotiations do not involve any person that is not
        an Independent Music Creator Owner or a Dominant Online Music
        Distribution Platform.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Except as provided in this Act, this Act
shall not be construed to modify, impair, or supersede the operation of
the antitrust laws.
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