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.
| Date | Chamber | What was voted on | Result | Yes–No | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26, 2023 | Senate · vote #97 | On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed S. 326 | Rejected | 57–42 | See who voted → |
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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.
- Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- RECORDING ACADEMY (FKA NATIONAL ACADEMY OF RECORDING ARTS AND SCIENCES)
- IHEARTMEDIA, INC.
- UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS
- PLATINUM ADVISORS DC, LLC
- COUNCIL FOR INNOVATION PROMOTION (C4IP)
Bodies those filers lobbied
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- SENATE
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- Transportation, Dept of (DOT)
- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
- White House Office
- State, Dept of (DOS)
- Executive Office of the President (EOP)
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 326: American Music Fairness Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-326/
"S. 326: American Music Fairness Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-326/.
S. 326, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-326/.
[S. 326: American Music Fairness Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-326/)