[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5664 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5664
To establish the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 30, 2025
Ms. Tlaib (for herself, Mrs. McIver, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mrs.
Ramirez, and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, and for other
purposes.
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 ``Living Wage for Musicians Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. ARTIST COMPENSATION ROYALTY FUND.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--The Register, with the approval of the
Librarian of Congress, shall designate an eligible entity to
establish and administer a fund to be known as the Artist
Compensation Royalty Fund.
(2) Notice of designation in federal register.--Not later
than 30 days after the eligible entity is designated under
paragraph (1), the Register shall publish a notice in the
Federal Register that--
(A) includes the contact information for the
eligible entity; and
(B) the reason for why the Register designated the
eligible entity under such paragraph.
(b) Deposit of Amounts Into Fund.--
(1) Deposit.--The Fund Administrator shall deposit into the
Fund any amounts received by the Fund Administrator under
paragraph (2) or (3).
(2) Amounts from service providers.--Not later than the
last day of the first calendar quarter after the calendar
quarter in which the Fund Administrator is designated, and each
calendar quarter thereafter, a service provider shall provide
to the Fund Administrator, for deposit into the Fund--
(A) the amounts collected by the service provider
in the prior calendar quarter from the living wage
royalty fee; and
(B) 10 percent of any non-subscription revenue
received by the service provider in the prior calendar
quarter.
(3) Amounts from sources other than service providers.--The
Fund Administrator may receive amounts for deposit into the
Fund from any source, including from a Federal, State, or local
government.
(c) Use of Fund.--Amounts in the Fund shall be made available in
accordance with section 3.
SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO MUSICAL ARTISTS FROM ARTIST COMPENSATION ROYALTY
FUND.
(a) In General.--
(1) Allocation of payments.--Amounts in the Fund shall be
allocated as follows:
(A) 90 percent of such amounts shall be allocated
for payments to eligible featured artists.
(B) 10 percent of such amounts shall be allocated
for payments to eligible non-featured artists.
(2) Payments from fund.--Not later than the last day of the
calendar quarter in which amounts are first deposited into the
Fund under section 2(b)(2), and once each calendar quarter
thereafter, the Fund Administrator shall promptly provide--
(A) a percentage of the amount allocated under
paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection to each eligible
featured artist, that is equal to the percentage of
qualifying streams accrued by the eligible featured
artist in the prior calendar quarter out of all
qualifying streams accrued by all eligible featured
artists in the prior calendar quarter; and
(B) payment from the amount allocated under
paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection to the American
Federation of Musicians and Screen Actors Guild and the
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund (or any
successor Fund) for distribution to each eligible non-
featured artist.
(3) Unclaimed funds.--If the Fund Administrator attempts to
the best of the ability of the Fund Administrator to identify
an eligible featured artist to provide payment to such artist
under paragraph (2)(A), and is unable to identify such artist
at such time, the Fund shall--
(A) retain the required payment in a segregated
trust account; and
(B) if the Fund Administrator is not able to
identify such artist after a period determined
reasonable by the Fund Administrator, deposit the
payment back into the Fund.
(b) Retention of Records.--The Fund Administrator shall--
(1) keep books and records relating to--
(A) amounts provided to the Fund Administrator
under section 2(b)(2); and
(B) amounts distributed from the Fund under
subsection (a) of this section; and
(2) retain any such book or record for a period of not less
than 3 calendar years after the date on which such book or
record is created.
SEC. 4. SERVICE PROVIDER OBLIGATIONS.
(a) Living Wage Royalty Fee.--Beginning on a date determined
appropriate by the Fund Administrator, the service provider shall
charge each person charged a subscription fee by the service provider
an additional fee in an amount equal to 50 percent of the subscription
fee charged by the service provider, except that such additional fee
shall not be an amount less than $4 or more than $10.
(b) Notice of Additional Fee.--In each statement or receipt a
service provider provides for the charge of a subscription fee and the
additional fee required by subsection (a), the service provider shall
include a line item describing such additional fee.
(c) Treatment of Royalty.--A service provider may not include the
amounts collected by the service provider from the living wage royalty
fee in any calculation by the service provider of the total costs or
revenue of content for the service provider.
(d) Records.--
(1) Retention.--Beginning on the date on which the Fund
Administrator is designated--
(A) each service provider shall keep books and
records relating to activities carried out by the
service provider under this Act; and
(B) retain such book and records for a period of
not less than 3 calendar years after the date on which
such book or record is created.
(2) Regulations.--The Fund Administrator may--
(A) require, by regulation, that service providers
provide the Fund Administrator information on--
(i) non-subscription revenue received by
the service provider;
(ii) revenue received by the service
provider from subscription fee;
(iii) the collection of the living wage
royalty fee by the service provider; and
(iv) data of the service provider with
respect to the number streams accrued by
artists through such service provider; and
(B) audit the books and records of a service
provider to verify any information provided by that
service provider under subparagraph (A).
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.
The Fund Administrator may establish, by regulation, penalties
for--
(1) a violation of a prohibition under this Act by a
service provider; or
(2) a failure to comply with a requirement under this Act
by a service provider.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Artist.--The term ``artist''--
(A) means a human creator; and
(B) does not include--
(i) corporate entities; or
(ii) fully generative artificial
intelligence.
(2) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
(A) a single non-profit entity that is--
(i) established solely for the purpose of
establishing and administering the Fund;
(ii) governed by a Board of Directors that
includes--
(I) committees that are composed of
a mix of voting and nonvoting members;
and
(II) artist representatives as
members of the Board; and
(iii) able to demonstrate to the Register
that, by the date described under section
3(a)(2) the entity will have the administrative
and technological capabilities to establish and
administer the Fund in accordance with this
Act; and
(B) if no entity meets the criteria under
subparagraph (A), an entity determined by the Register
to most nearly fit such criteria.
(3) Eligible featured artist.--The term ``eligible featured
artist'' means a featured artist who--
(A) registers with the Fund; and
(B) provides the Fund Administrator with the
information determined necessary by the Fund
Administrator--
(i) identify or locate such featured
artist; and
(ii) provide payment to such featured
artist (or a person designated by such artist
to receive such payment on behalf of such
artist).
(4) Eligible non-featured artist defined.--In this
paragraph, the term ``eligible non-featured artist'' means a
non-featured artist that provides the American Federation of
Musicians and Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation
of Television and Radio Artists Intellectual Property Rights
Distribution Fund (or any successor Fund) with the information
determined necessary by such Fund--
(A) to identify or locate such non-featured artist;
and
(B) provide payment to the non-featured artist (or
a person designated by such artist to receive such
payment on behalf of such artist).
(5) End user.--The term ``end user'' means a unique person
that receives an offering from the service provider, including
the following:
(A) A person who pays no fee for receiving the
offering.
(B) A person who pays a subscription fee for
receiving the offering.
(6) Featured artist.--The term ``featured artist'' means an
artist who is prominently featured on a sound recording made
available through an offering.
(7) Fund.--The term ``Fund'' means the Artist Compensation
Royalty Fund established by the Fund Administrator under
section 2(a).
(8) Fund administrator.--The term ``Fund Administrator''
means the eligible entity designated under section 2(a)(1).
(9) Living wage royalty fee.--The term ``living wage
royalty fee'' means the additional free required to be charged
under section 4(a).
(10) Master recording.--The term ``master recording'' means
the original sound recording of a song.
(11) Non-featured artist.--The term ``non-featured
artist''--
(A) means an artist who is not prominently featured
on a sound recording made available through an
offering; and
(B) includes the following:
(i) A session musician.
(ii) A back-up vocalist.
(12) Non-subscription revenue.--The term ``non-subscription
revenue'' means any revenue received from music streaming
(including revenue received from advertising with respect to
such music streaming), other than revenue from a subscription
fee.
(13) Offering.--The term ``offering'' means the provision
of a stream by a service provider.
(14) Qualifying stream.--The term ``qualifying stream''
means with respect to a master recording and a calendar month,
the lesser of--
(A) the number of streams of the master recording
accrued by the eligible featured artist in that
calendar month; and
(B) 1,000,000 streams.
(15) Register.--The term ``Register'' means the Register of
Copyrights.
(16) Service provider.--The term ``service provider'' means
an entity, that--
(A) provides a stream to an end user;
(B) contracts with or has a direct relationship
with an end user to provide such streams; and
(C) controls which such streams are made available
to such end users.
(17) Stream.--The term ``stream''--
(A) means an interactive, encrypted digital
transmission that embodies a master recording that
allows a person to receive and listen to such master
recording upon request at a time chosen by the person;
(B) does not include a temporary copy of such
master recording--
(i) generated by a service provider in the
course of providing the transmission; and
(ii) used solely for the purpose of caching
or buffering.
(18) Subscription fee.--The term ``subscription fee'' means
a monthly fee that a person pays to the service provider to
access an offering of the service provider, whether or not the
person pays the fee on a standalone basis or as part of a
single transaction that includes such fee and another fee for
one or more product or services having more than token value.
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