Oct. 11 (UPI) — Musicians will get a greater share of the money for music they create under updated U.S. copyright law that was signed by President Donald Trump Thursday.
The president welcomed various artists to the White House for a signing ceremony, including Kid Rock, Kanye West, Beach Boys singer Mike Love and country singer Craig Morgan.
“The Music Modernization Act closes loopholes in our digital royalties laws to ensure that songwriters, artists and producers receive fair payment for licensing music,” Trump said before signing the bill into law.
The new law protects intellectual property and sets up a single licensing system for music, whether it’s streamed or bought digitally or in physical form.
The bill passed both houses of Congress unanimously.
“They create some of the more incredible music, some great music,” Trump said. “These people are going to become even richer than they are, but that’s OK.”
Musical artists have been pushing for the law for years, Soul legend Sam Moore said.
“With [President George W.] Bush we couldn’t get it done. When [President Barack] Obama was in we couldn’t get it done. But we got it done with this man,” Moore said of Trump.
The final bill is the result of years of compromise and political involvement from music artists and the National Music Publishers Association.
“Songwriters have for too long labored without seeing fair rates and receiving all that they deserve, and for the first time in history, the music industry has partnered with the tech industry to fix these systemic problems,” NMPA President David Israelite said in a statement.
