Dear Readers, 

These past few weeks and months have been hard for our country. While it is impossible for us to fully grasp the extent of that pain, they have been especially hard for members of the Black community. Writing a newsletter without acknowledging that is impossible.

We all have a role to play in creating a fairer world, the Copyright Office and the music industry included. I hope we are all taking time to recharge and reflect. Why? Because, put simply, music has a powerful effect on us all. It is the soundtrack to social change, a call to action, and a source of solace and strength when we need it most. The industry has been, and continues to be, hit hard by COVID-19. But we need you more than ever. As we gear up for the license availability date in January, the Copyright Office is putting out a number of resources to educate the public about upcoming changes under the MMA. I've shared a few highlights with you below.

With care,

Regan Smith
General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights
U.S. Copyright Office

As directed by the Music Modernization Act (MMA), the U.S. Copyright Office is undertaking a public study and soliciting public comments to recommend best practices that the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) may implement to effectively identify and locate copyright owners with unclaimed royalties of musical works, encourage copyright owners to claim accrued royalties, and ultimately reduce the incidence of unclaimed royalties. Comments are due August 3, and specific instructions for submitting comments are available here.

To support public comments, and as part of the aforementioned study, the Copyright Office has also commissioned a report by Music Confidential’s Susan Butler on matching and royalty distribution practices of collective management organizations (CMOs) around the world, titled Collective Rights Management Practices around the World: A Survey of CMO Practices to Reduce the Occurrence of Unclaimed Royalties in Musical Works. Read more here.

The Copyright Office has released a new circular to provide an introduction to the federal remedies available for owners of U.S. pre-1972 sound recordings, including who qualifies as an owner; what constitutes unauthorized use; exceptions, limitations, and remedies for unauthorized use; term; and submitting pre-1972 sound recording schedules. Get it here. 

Since Congress passed the Music Modernization Act in 2018, the Office has been hard at work sharing information with songwriters and publishers. As the Office transitioned to working remotely, we've kept up the pace with many virtual events as well. Learn more about where we've been and how to request a speaker for your next online event here. 

New to our newsletters? Missed an issue? Catch up on past issues on our new newsletter archive page. You can also send this page to friends and colleagues so they can stay up to date on developments in the MMA's implementation. More here.