Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2007 (S. 256): Section-by-Section Analysis Page: 4 of 18
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Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights
Holders in Music Act of 2007 (S. 256):
Section-by-Section Analysis
Introduction
S. 256, the Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of
2007 (the Perform Act), introduced on January 11, 2007, by Senator Dianne
Feinstein, seeks to promote parity in the music licensing fees paid by entities
involved in the digital performance and distribution of copyrighted music. It would
amend certain provisions of U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. 112 and 114) to (1)
subject all digital public performances of copyrighted sound recordings to
compulsory licensing under the same statutory provision and standards, regardless
of whether they are transmitted by preexisting or new, subscription, or non-
subscription services; (2) require services that transmit digital public performances
of copyrighted sound recordings under compulsory licenses to use technological
measures to prevent the making of copies embodying the transmission of the sound
recordings; and (3) use the fair market value of the copyrighted sound recordings in
setting compulsory license fees for digital public performances of them. This report
provides a section-by-section analysis of the Perform Act and the changes it would
make to U.S. copyright law.
Background
Among the creative works that U.S. copyright law protects are sound recordings
(material or digital embodiments of performances of musical works) and musical
works (musical compositions consisting of musical notation and any accompanying
words).1 Owners of copyrighted sound recordings have exclusive rights to reproduce,
adapt, or distribute their works, or to perform them publicly by digital means.2
117 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) & (7). Cole Porter's song "I've Got You Under My Skin" is a
musical work. A tape, compact disk, or MP3 of Frank Sinatra singing "I've Got You Under
My Skin" is a sound recording.
2 17 U.S.C. 106(1)-(3) & (6). The owners of copyrighted musical works, in contrast,
have exclusive rights to publicly perform their works by any means, digital or non-digital.
17 U.S.C. 106(4). As defined by the Copyright Act, public performance includes (1)
performance at any place open to the public or where a "substantial number of persons
outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances" gather, or (2)
transmission or other communication to a public place or to the public by any device or
process allowing members of the public to receive the performance as a group or
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Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2007 (S. 256): Section-by-Section Analysis, report, March 15, 2007; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816071/m1/4/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.