A Hollywood Ending
It seems a quirk of US political history that the two most significant bills relating to digital music passed through Congress without opposition, in years marked by particularly bitter division. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act cleared the House by voice vote and the Senate by unanimous consent, and was signed into law by Bill Clinton in October 1998 - the very same month he was impeached by the House of Representatives. The Music Modernization Act passed the House by a vote of 415-0 and the Senate unanimously, and was signed into law by Trump in October 2018. He was impeached the following year.
This odd juxtaposition was on display again this month, when the House Judiciary Committee held late-year hearings on two bills. The first, which touched on gun control, was debated for two-and-a-half hours in the most unpleasant, unproductive, uncooperative manner imaginable, followed by a strict party-line vote. Just what you might expect from a divided, mutually disrespectful House.
After a brief recess, the Committee took up the American Music Fairness Act, which would change the way royalties are paid for terrestrial radio broadcast. It was introduced by Democratic Chairman Jerry Nadler with ringing words of endorsement. Then Republican ranking member Jim Jordan spoke:
“If the American Music Fairness Act does not become law this Congress, negotiations must resume next year. We believe there's a deal to be struck here that is fair to all sides, and most importantly fair to taxpayers and consumers. Historically this committee moves copyright legislation on a consensus basis, these issues are not and should not be partisan. It is our job to balance the interest of creators, distributors and consumers in the fairest and most honest way possible. That means that the next time we mark up a bill dealing with terrestrial performance right, my hope is that it will be a unanimous vote. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work on doing just that. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.”
The bill passed Committee by a voice vote. No one put their name down in opposition. The story of the hearing had suddenly pivoted from a Preston Sturges parody of political corruption - if you’ve never seen his stinging satires from the 1940s, start streaming now - to a Frank Capra dream of societal redemption.
What gives?
If music has a special status in American political life, that would seem a good thing given the state of our politics. Not that a Sturges storyline isn’t always possible, if not more likely – the American Music Fairness Act isn’t law yet, and represents an idea that has been defeated time and again for decades by a powerful lobbying group of radio broadcast corporations. In fact, it’s been defeated for so long that it has now nearly outlived terrestrial radio as a significant technology. Much of the time, all we can do is laugh at the absurd outcomes of a system directed by pure profit.
But it seems a Capra ending is possible, too.
Perhaps music is a place our politics can allow for genuine consensus, even in the worst of times - maybe it’s watched over by guardian angels. Every cymbal hit, another one gets its wings.
Or maybe music and musicians are too often treated with condescension, like we live in some kind of innocent, ideology-free zone. Joel McCrea could deliver a string of dry Sturges punchlines about that with ease.
I’ll take either explanation, so long as we get a chance to pass new laws correcting problems in digital media faced by musicians. We’re in need of them rather desperately at the moment.
And maybe, even in these bitterly divided times, we’ll get them.
Listening to: Back to the Woodlands, by Ernest Hood
Cooking: A gift of homemade Pfeffernüsse from a neighbor