A new proposed federal law would allow independent musicians to team up to collectively negotiate licenses with AI companies and streaming platforms to help them “demand fair compensation.”
The Protect Working Musicians Act, re-introduced Thursday morning (May 21) by Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), will help “level the playing field” for indie artists, the Congresswoman tells Billboard, since they lack the same kind of negotiating leverage as major stars and labels.
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“Working musicians and small independent labels face urgent challenges to their livelihoods posed by the market power of streaming platforms,” Ross says. “Now, as the use of AI in music production explodes, it’s more urgent than ever to ensure artists’ creations aren’t being used without fair licenses and pay.”
In technical terms, the new bill would give indie artists a so-called antitrust exemption, allowing them to work together in ways that would normally be banned under federal antitrust laws. Without that kind of collective power, such acts are often forced to accept “one-size-fits-all lowball offers.”
“Antitrust law currently prohibits musicians from banding together to negotiate with these platforms as a group,” Ross says. “The platforms are able to divide and conquer them.”
Similar exemptions have long been granted in other industries. Major League Baseball famously has an antitrust exemption, allowing teams to cooperate on rules and policies. So too have farmers and agricultural producers, which are allowed to form cooperatives that let them collectively market crops and set prices when negotiating with large buyers.
“With this legislation, we’re trying to do something similar here to allow smaller musicians to bargain as a group so they can get better terms when it comes to streaming or AI licensing compensation,” Ross says.
The bill already has wide support from music industry stakeholders, including the American Association of Independent Music, the Music Artists Coalition, the National Music Publishers’ Association, as well as other powerful entertainment groups like SAG-AFTRA.
The PWMA was first introduced in 2021 by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) to address streaming royalties, then again in 2023 by Ross when language to address AI companies was first added.
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