Radio finally pays artists—but a loophole lets broadcasters claim airplay is promotion

What it does

This bill extends federal copyright royalty requirements to terrestrial radio broadcasts for the first time, requiring radio stations to pay sound recording copyright holders for playing music. However, it creates a tiered fee structure that shields small and public broadcasters from market-rate royalties—stations under $100K revenue pay $10/year, those under $1.5M pay $100–$500/year—while requiring the Copyright Royalty Judges to consider radio's promotional value when setting rates. The bill also ensures songwriters' existing royalties are unaffected and directs how royalties from direct licenses are distributed to artists.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is extending copyright performance rights to terrestrial radio—a substantive policy shift—but its operative effect is heavily shaped by exemptions and rate-suppression provisions favoring small and public broadcasters, making it a hybrid royalty-expansion-plus-subsidy bill.

What the text implies

• The 'promotional value' language in Section 7 may allow broadcasters to argue that radio airplay is itself compensation, potentially suppressing royalty rates below what digital services pay, creating a two-tier system where radio pays less than streaming.
• Small broadcasters pay fixed fees ($10–$500/year) regardless of how many songs they play, creating a moral-hazard incentive for them to maximize music use without proportional cost, while larger stations face market-rate royalties.
• The five-year rate-setting cycle (Section 3) locks in rates for extended periods, meaning if promotional value is weighted heavily in the first proceeding, artists may be locked into suppressed rates until 2033.
• Direct-license royalties are split 50/50 between the collective and the copyright owner (Section 5), but the bill does not specify how the collective distributes its half, potentially allowing intermediaries to capture a portion intended for artists.
• The bill does not address whether small-broadcaster exemptions apply to streaming services owned by or affiliated with radio stations, creating a potential loophole for media conglomerates to avoid royalties through subsidiary structures.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill creates a new revenue stream for sound recording artists and copyright holders, addressing a long-standing asymmetry where radio stations play music without paying performers—a concrete public benefit. However, the small-broadcaster carve-out (as low as $10/year) and the instruction to weigh radio's promotional value may suppress royalty rates below market levels, potentially reducing artist compensation and shifting the burden of subsidy to larger broadcasters and digital services. The

Who stands to gain

• sound recording copyright holders
• major record labels
• featured and nonfeatured recording artists
• small and public radio broadcasters (via fee caps)
• public broadcasting entities

Named in the bill

terrestrial radio broadcasters, sound recording copyright owners, Copyright Royalty Judges, featured and nonfeatured artists, public broadcasting entities, Federal Communications Commission, nonprofit collective (designated to distribute royalties), songwriters and musical work copyright owners

Where it stands

13 cosponsors: 10 Democrats, 3 Republicans.

• Jan 31, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 31, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

15 lobbying clients named this bill on 23 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $10,493,735 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 95% of bills with at least one filing.

Darrell Issa, the sponsor, reported $335,200 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• National Association of Broadcasters — $5,600,000 on 2 filings
• Universal Music Group — $1,460,000 on 2 filings
• Consumer Technology Association — $1,080,000 on 1 filing
• Iheartmedia Inc — $1,037,957 on 1 filing
• Sony Music Entertainment (formerly Known As Sony Bmg Music Entertainment) — $410,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.