President Donald Trump makes introductory remarks as musicians and members of Congress watch at the ceremony to sign the Music Modernization Act into law. (Photo courtesy CSPAN)

With Kid Rock and Sam &Dave’s Sam Moore looking on as witnesses, President Donald Trump today signed the Music Modernization Act into law. Various iterations of the bill, which updates antiquated copyright payment policies and is heralded as bringing music into the digital era, have kicked around the hill over the past sessions of congress. But it took on a new life last year, as music enthusiast Bob Goodlatte (R-IA) embraced it as somethign of a last hurrah as he heads to retirement at the end of the this 115th session.

As a result, and the bill was in the eleventh hour renamed the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act for its chief advocates in the Senate and House. As someone whose been shown little love from the music industry throughout his campaign, the alacrity with which President Trump signed the bill is somewhat surprising, but the nation’s chief executive clearly took a bipartisan approach.

“The Music Modernization Act closes loopholes in our digital royalties laws to ensure that songwriters, artists and producers receive fair payment for licensing of music,” Trump said in a prepared statement. At the signing ceremony itself,  he spoke more informally, stating, “I know you’ve been waiting for this for a long time, you folks.  Right?  For a long, long time. They’ve been working on this for years and years and years.  And I guess certain entertainers have been taken advantage of. But no longer — because of Trump, can you believe it?!,” he teased, to the crowd’s amusement. “Who would think?”

Beach Boy Mike Love, Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and members of the Christian rock group MercyMe were also on hand to witness the historic signing, which was somewhat ironically propelled forward mainly by Republican support, although once it gained steam it enjoyed bipartisan approval. 

Indeed, the Music Modernization Act even brought together warring factions within the entertainment community. The National Association of Broadcasters, which has since the early days of radio been mostly on the opposing side of royalty reform for the music industry, issued a statement from NAB president and CEO Gordon Smith stating, “NAB is grateful for President Trump’s signature on the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, thus culminating a years-long process to find consensus solutions to music licensing issues. This important legislation will benefit songwriters, legacy recording artists, producers, digital streaming services, and music listeners.”

Smith went on to commend chairman Grassley and ranking Members Nadler and Feinstein – along with Representatives Collins and Jeffries and Senators Whitehouse, Alexander and Coons for “skillfully guiding” the measure through Congress.  What Smith didn’t mention — nor did any of the gleeful music industry well-wishers — is that a provision seen as key by many during the planning stages, which would have required performers to be compensated for radio airplay was excised early on, in a compromise effort to gain NAB support. The idea was that it would be better to get some things passed and table the more contentious point for later, than it would be to hold out for all the goodies and wind up with nothing (as would have surely been the case had the NAB elected to aggressively oppose the measure).

And indeed, there is plenty to sing about in the MMA.  “Now that the President has signed the MMA into law, we are confident that the music industry will reap the benefits of this historic piece of legislation for many years to come,” said Martin Bandier, Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. “For songwriters and music publishers in particular, the bill will go a long way to delivering them the fair compensation they deserve for the vital contribution they make to the thriving streaming services. With the passage of this bill, I’m pleased to say that the entire music industry agrees that everything starts with a song.”

Ringing in the Music Modernization Act as the law of the land, Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow said, “As we celebrate the harmony and unity that got us here, we applaud the efforts of the thousands of performers, songwriters, and studio professionals who rallied for historic change to ensure all music creators are compensated fairly when their work is used by digital and satellite music services. We thank the members of Congress who championed this issue throughout the past several years to bring music law into the 21st century.

Watch President Trump’s remarks, and follow the MMA’s legislative history.