Congresswoman Deborah Ross (D-NC) once again introduced the legislation today, with Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) aboard as cosponsors. As some will recall, a different (now-former) representative initially introduced the bill nearly half a decade ago.

Subsequently, Rep. Ross expanded the measure to include AI; the proposed law currently counts as backers A2IM, the NMPA, the AFM, the Recording Academy, SONA, SAG-AFTRA, the Songwriters Guild of America, and several others.

In short, then, the legislation would apply to every leading DSP – but not non-interactive players like SiriusXM, which are expressly exempt.

On the opposite side of the equation, the bill aims to allow “any musician or group of musician[s], producers, mixers, and sound engineers” to spearhead collective negotiations with dominant platforms – provided that they (the musicians) own their recordings and earn less than $1 million per year from licensing the IP.

As such, with a couple stipulations (talks cannot exclude “similarly situated independent creator/owners,” for one), these professionals would “not be held liable under the antitrust laws for agreeing with other” eligible recording owners to engage in collective licensing discussions with music and AI platforms.

Nor would they be held liable for opting “to collectively refuse to license their music,” according to the bill.

“The Protect Working Musicians Act is as urgent today as it was when it was first introduced in 2023,” Harrison continued. “The explosion of AI and the continued dominance of a handful of streaming giants make it clear that independent artists need real tools to advocate for themselves. A2IM is proud to stand behind this reintroduction and will continue fighting until working musicians have the rights and protections they deserve.”

Furthermore, A2IM in the same in-depth release framed the Protect Working Musicians Act as a logical complement to the TRAIN Act and the CLEAR Act, both of which center on compelling gen AI developers to identify the protected works on which they trained their models.

Additionally, in A2IM’s view, the Protect Working Musicians Act “also answers the call in the White House National AI Legislative Framework for Congress to explore voluntary collective licensing models.”