If you want an even deeper dive, Jeff Price of Audiam (who's being interviewed) compiled a highly detailed review of the Music Modernization Act on Digital Music News. It basically explains everything.
After you hear this podcast + read this guide, you'll hopefully have a far deeper understanding of this bill (and know what to do next).
Also, here's a quick annotation of this podcast, so you can skip around to various parts.
0:00 Intro
1:54 Interview with Jeff Price begins
3:57 What the hell is the Music Modernization Act (and why do we need it)?
6:17 What exactly is a 'streaming service,' and what are the different types of streaming licenses?
8:11 How does the publishing work with Pandora?
11:04 What is a Public Performance?
13:35 What is a 'Reproduction License' (i.e., Mechanical License) - and why is it so important?
27:10 Why does Congress need to get involved?
28:00 Where did the giant problem begin?
30:00 'The recording part was figured out'
31:02 Did Spotify just not know about the licenses they needed to pay?
37:00 'So they put together a solution...' (What the MMA solves + other problems this bill addresses)
40:00 The basic rules of the MMA for streaming music services
41:30 International considerations.
42:51 So what's the big problem with the MMA?
51:20 Nitty-gritty details on the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC)
1:08:00 The missing metadata problem
1:12:20 Who's really generating most of the plays on streaming platforms?
1:18:00 How does the songwriter/artist/publisher now get paid by the MLC?
1:20:28 What steps should rights holders take before the creation of the MLC?
1:22:30 Pre-1972 oldies
1:27:10 Why doesn't AM/FM radio have to pay recording royalties?
1:31:30 A deeper history of music rights in the U.S.
1:33:50 Why can't we just figure out what's actually being played?
1:35:00 Goodbye + Outro
Thanks for listening! Please send us feedback at news@digitalmusicnews.com.
