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S. 253 118th Congress Senate

American Music Fairness Act

Official title: A bill to amend title 17, United States Code, to provide fair treatment of radio stations and artists for the use of sound recordings, and for other purposes.

Introduced: February 2, 2023 Introduced by: Alex Padilla Democratic · California See on congress.gov
Commerce
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This bill died when the 118th Congress ended
It never became law before the 118th Congress (2023–2024) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 2, 2023
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S235)
Feb 2, 2023
Introduced in Senate
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 Latest action February 2, 2023

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S235)

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

American Music Fairness Act

This bill establishes that the copyright holder of a sound recording shall have the exclusive right to perform the sound recording through an audio transmission. (Currently, the public performance right only covers performances through a digital audio transmission in certain instances, which means that nonsubscription terrestrial radio stations generally do not have to get a license to publicly perform a copyright-protected sound recording.)

Under the bill, a nonsubscription broadcast transmission must have a license to publicly perform such sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board must periodically determine the royalty rates for such a license. When determining the rates, the board must base its decision on certain information presented by the parties, including the radio stations' effect on other streams of revenue related to the sound recordings.

Terrestrial broadcast stations (and the owners of such stations) that fall below certain revenue thresholds may pay certain flat fees, instead of the board-established rate, for a license to publicly perform copyright-protected sound recordings.

 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 791 American Music Fairness Act of 2023
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 10

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

  • UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
    for UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
  • UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
    for UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)
  • UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
    for UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)
  • UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
    for UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
  • UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
    for UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP · District of Columbia · 4th Quarter 2025 (Oct 1 - Dec 31)
  • UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
    for UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 10 filings →
 Cosponsors 2
All 2 Republican 2
R
Blackburn, Marsha
Tennessee · Feb 2, 2023
 R
Tillis, Thomas
North Carolina · Feb 2, 2023
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 253: American Music Fairness Act. 118th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/118-S-253/
MLA
"S. 253: American Music Fairness Act." 118th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/118-S-253/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 253, 118th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/118-S-253/.
Markdown link
[S. 253: American Music Fairness Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/118-S-253/)
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