H.R. 9253, Antitrust Carve-out for Creator Collective Bargaining. Quorum's AI analysis reads it as a net benefit — and names who gains.

What it does

This bill creates a legal safe harbor allowing independent music creators and songwriters (those earning under $1 million annually or qualifying as small businesses) to collectively negotiate licensing terms with dominant streaming platforms and AI companies without violating antitrust law. It addresses a power imbalance where platforms like Spotify and Apple Music can dictate take-it-or-leave-it terms to individual creators, who lack resources to negotiate alone.

The analysis names independent musicians and songwriters (under $1M annual licensing revenue) — and 1 more group — among the beneficiaries.

The trade-off

The safe harbor applies to negotiations with 'companies engaged in development or deployment of generative artificial intelligence'—a broad category that may extend collective bargaining rights beyond music platforms to AI training companies, with unclear scope and potential for disputes over what constitutes 'deployment.'

Transparency scores 85%, with a medium warning level and no provisions unrelated to the bill's subject.

Who is behind it

Filed by Deborah Ross. Cosponsored by Dan Goldman, Lloyd Doggett, Sarah Elfreth and Steve Cohen.