The Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, or Music Modernization Act or MMA (, ) is United States legislation signed into law on October 11, 2018 aimed to modernize
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
-related issues for music and audio recordings due to new forms of technology such as
digital streaming. It is a consolidation of three separate bills introduced during the
115th United States Congress
The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...
.
Enjoined bills
The MMA is a combination of three bills previously introduced in Congress.
The three bills became the three titles of the final act.
Title I: Music Modernization Act
The Musical Works Modernization Act (MWMA) is the Act first introduced into the House by Rep.
Bob Goodlatte
Robert William Goodlatte (; born September 22, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives representing for 13 terms. A Republican, he was also the Chair of the House Judiciar ...
on December 17, 2017 (), and later to the Senate by Sen.
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. sena ...
on January 24, 2018. Both versions of the bill looked to improve how music licensing and royalties would be paid in consideration of streaming media services. The bill established three major provisions:
# It would set up a non-profit governing agency that would create a database related to the owners of the
mechanical license
In copyright law, a mechanical license is a license from the holder of a copyright of a composition or musical work, to another party to create a "cover song", reproduce, or sample a portion of the original composition. It applies to copyrighte ...
of musical works - the copyright that covers the music and lyrics of a musical composition; the actual performance and recording is typically held under a different license. This musical works database would be completed with help of the major music publishers. The new agency would establish blanket royalty rates that would be used to pay the co