Are you a legacy artist who made music before Feb. 15, 1972? If you are, you should be excited about the pending CLASSICS Act (Compensating Legacy Artists for the Songs, Services, and Important Contributions to Society Act) in Congress. The CLASSICS Act is part of the Music Modernization Act that was introduced by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, and ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-New York. The CLASSICS Act recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 415-0. Next, the Senate is set to consider the Music Modernization Act.
If signed into law, legacy artists will finally have a federal digital performance right to collect royalties from digital radio platforms such as Pandora and SiriusXM. Unfortunately, federal law does not protect pre-1972 sound recordings. Lacking federal rights to their work, The Turtles were forced to file class action lawsuits against the digital radio platforms under California, Florida and New York state copyright laws. The results were mixed: The Turtles won under California law, but lost in both Florida and New York.
In speaking before the House Judiciary Committee in January, the legendary artist Dionne Warwick noted, “There are entire channels on SiriusXM dedicated to music of the ’60s and ’70s … but we get absolutely nothing for [songs] recorded before [1972]. Isn’t that ridiculous?” The CLASSICS
Act recognizes the immeasurable value of cherished pre-1972 sound recordings. SAG-AFTRA looks forward to continuing our fight with the musicFIRST coalition to achieve fair compensation for all sound recording artists on all music platforms. Keep an eye out for updates on the Music Modernization Act and the CLASSICS Act.
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