A Music Industry Peace Treaty Passes Unanimously Through Congress

On Tuesday evening, the Music Modernization Act (renamed the Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act at the 23rd hour — in honor of the retiring Utah politician who also happens himself to own a platinum record), was passed unanimously in the Senate, as it was earlier this year by the House. In an age where political and artistic consensus is increasingly found only in cultural warrens populated by the like-minded, the bipartisan support of the bill is perhaps a small beacon of unity. (But still.)

"It is the most important piece of legislation in a generation to help make sure songwriters in our country are paid and are paid a fair market value for on the floor of Congress following the bill's passage. The bill is essentially a music business peace treaty, designed to fix some very longstanding issues within it. It's the result of years of slow-moving compromise between tech companies like Spotify that rely on music (and wish to pay as little as possible for the privilege), entrenched music industry interests from major and independent labels to publishers and performance rights organizations, artists (who wish to get paid as much as possible from companies like Spotify) and the organizations that advocate for them.