Independent music makers can bargain as a group with streaming apps.
H.R. 8994 — Protect Working Musicians Act of 2026 · Filed by Deborah Ross (D-NC) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced May 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill lets music makers work as a group to bargain with big streaming apps. Apps like Spotify and Apple Music are included. The bill lets them do this without breaking laws that ban groups from setting prices together. It only applies to music makers who earn less than $1 million per year. It only applies to music makers who count as small businesses. It only applies to apps that make over $100 million per year from music.
Who it affects
Independent music makers gain power to bargain as a group instead of alone. Big streaming apps that make over $100 million per year from music are affected. Music makers who own their own songs gain the most.
One thing to notice
The bill lets music makers refuse to let platforms or AI companies use their songs as a group. This could change what songs are on these apps.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Democrats.
- May 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 21, 2026 — 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
1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $148,713 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 7 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.
Deborah Ross, who sponsored the bill, received $706,079 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Digital Media Assn — $148,713 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- independent music makers — People who make music and own their own songs, not signed to big labels.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (6,302 characters) on Aug 15, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-17.
“Independent music makers can bargain as a group with streaming apps.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr8994/simple Report an error