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‘Landmark Victory’: Copyright Office Finalizes Rule Change On Streaming Royalties

The Copyright Office's copyright rule change regarding streaming royalties was finalized, ensuring songwriters who invoke termination rights get paid.

The provision, issued on Tuesday, will overturn what the Copyright Office called an “erroneous” earlier policy by the Mechanical Licensing Collective, which critics feared would have kept sending money from streamers like Spotify to former owners in perpetuity, long after a songwriter took back ownership. According to the Copyright Office, the group saw it as a “middle ground,” aimed at preventing drawn-out disputes that would lock up royalty payments “to the disadvantage of both songwriters and publishers.” But advocates argued that it would undermine the very purpose of termination rights, which were created to level the playing field for small creators who sold their works away to powerful companies. Despite earlier disagreements, NMPA President & CEO David Israelite celebrated the final enactment of the rule in a statement Tuesday, saying the group was pleased with a policy that “ensures songwriters are properly and expediently paid post termination.”

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