Pursuits
A House Bill for Higher Songwriter Pay
Better royalties for songwriters
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H.R. 4079 Songwriter Equity Act of 2014
The Essentials
1. Songwriters are paid a royalty when someone buys a recording of the songs they write, a band performs them, or they’re played on a radio station or through an online streaming service. Under U.S. copyright law, the government relies on a complicated, decades-old system to figure out how much writers are entitled to. Songwriters complain the current fee of 9.1¢ for the sale of a recorded song, for instance—up from 2¢ in 1909—is pitifully low and makes it hard to earn a living.