Independent music makers can bargain together with streaming apps.
H.R. 9253 — Protect Working Musicians Act of 2026 · Filed by Deborah Ross (D-NC) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 10, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill lets independent music makers work together. They can talk with streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music. Right now each music maker talks alone and has little power. The bill creates legal protection so music makers can bargain as a group. It also covers talks with AI makers. The protection applies to music makers earning under $1 million per year. It also applies to small groups.
Who it affects
Independent music makers gain the right to bargain together with streaming apps. Small music groups also qualify. Streaming apps and AI makers would face group talks instead of single talks.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say how music makers would set up their group. It also does not stop apps from refusing to work with music makers who join the group. Apps can do this if they treat all music makers the same way.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 4 Democrats.
- Jun 10, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 10, 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
2 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 2 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $140,778 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 10 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 41% of bills with any report.
Deborah Ross, who sponsored the bill, received $706,079 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Recording Academy — $120,778 in 1 report
- American Association of Independent Music — $20,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- bargain — Talk back and forth to reach a deal on price or terms.
- legal protection — A rule that lets people do something without breaking the law.
- AI — Computer systems that create new text, images, or music based on patterns.
- 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 (7,238 characters) on Aug 19, 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 together with streaming apps.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9253/simple Report an error