Songwriter Petition Circulates To Support Music Modernization Act

The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has created a petition to collect and amplify the voice of songwriters in agreement of H.R. 4706, The Music Modernization Act of 2017, which is aimed at updating what the association calls “archaic laws” for the biggest achievement music creators have seen in the Digital Age.

Thousands of signatures have been collected so far in support of the December 21, 2017 legislation Congressman Doug Collins and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries introduced.

Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has encouraged its members to sign the NMPA’s petition “that will give songwriters a new rate standard for digital mechanical royalties which should lead to better streaming royalty rates. The bill creates a new mechanical licensing entity that will represent all songwriters equally at no cost, establishes a licensing process controlled by music publishers and songwriters instead of tech companies or the government, ends the disastrous Copyright Office mass ‘Notice of Intent’ program, and mandates songwriters receive more than half of all unclaimed funds.”

Additional support for the bill comes from the Songwriters of North America (SONA), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), the Church Music Publishers’ Association (CMPA), the Production Music Association (PMA), MusicAnswers, the Music Publishers Association (MPA), the Council of Music Creators (CMC), the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) and the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). The bill is also supported by the Digital Music Association (DiMA) which represents Amazon, Apple, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube.

Visit gopetition.com to read more or add your voice.