Music Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the distinguished ranking member, for yielding, for his leadership, and, of course, to the chairman of the committee and to so many other Members: Representative Issa, Representative Rooney, and Representative Crowley and many, many others who have worked hard on this particular piece of legislation.

Of course, above all else, I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Congressman Doug Collins, who has been a phenomenal leader in bringing stakeholders together from across the music ecosystem, bringing folks together from the digital industry, bringing the National Association of Broadcasters together to help us reach this moment where we have a consensus product that can ensure that the people of America and the Nation can continue to enjoy the music we have come to know and love.

Article 1, section 8, clause 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to promote and create a robust intellectual property system in order to, in the words of the Founding Fathers, promote the progress of science and useful arts. The Founding Fathers of this great Nation understood that we should incentivize creative brilliance and incentivize innovation and, in that context, that the creator should be able to benefit from the fruits of their labor and, in doing so, will continue to share their creative brilliance with the world.

In the context of music, we know that the manner in which we have consumed music has changed over time: from vinyl to 8-track, from 8- track to cassette, from cassette to CD, from CD to downloads, from downloading to streaming. The manner in which we consume music has changed, but the underlying brilliance and beauty and creativity of that music remains the same.

Consistent with what the Founding Fathers have suggested, we need a modern-day music licensing system, and that is what the MMA will accomplish. I am thankful that it has brought together not just stakeholders and industry, but it has brought together a Jerry Nadler and a Chairman Goodlatte, a Darrell Issa and a Joe Crowley. It has brought together a conservative Republican from Georgia and a progressive Democrat from the people's republic of Brooklyn.

Music is a unifying force. It has the power to bring us together. We should have the power to modernize our system on behalf of these brilliant creators.

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