119-hr5664

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5664 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

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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