The Recording Academy, SoundExchange, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), ASCAP, BMI and eight other organizations sent a letter on July 8 to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, urging intervention against a European Union policy proposal affecting recorded royalties for terrestrial radio plays and public performances at commercial establishments.
The European Commission (EC) announced in May it was considering legislation to overturn a 2020 court ruling that required EU member states to pay public performance royalties to all sound recording rightsholders regardless of nationality. The EC proposal would reinstate “material reciprocity” — a principle under which only artists and labels from countries offering equivalent protections receive royalties. U.S. law provides a public performance royalty for publishing but not for recorded music, except digital streams, effectively excluding American rightsholders.
The U.S. coalition stated the change would “mark a dramatic policy reversal and codify discrimination against American creators into EU law.” The groups said adoption would “put at risk nearly $300 million in annual royalties that American artists and rights owners currently receive from Europe” and called on the USTR to “fully leveraging available trade tools — including sustained bilateral engagement, coordinated multilateral pressure, and, if necessary, targeted enforcement measures.”
Warner Music Group opposed the proposal in a June 25 comment to the EC, arguing that “protection of foreign copyrights is essential to investment in EU copyright industries” and that material reciprocity would incentivize music users to avoid paying for protected music.
European rightsholder groups including IMPALA, the European indie artist advocacy group, have supported the EC proposal, citing concerns that their artists’ royalties would be diverted to U.S. rightsholders. IMPALA calculated that without EU intervention, revenue transfers to the U.S. alone could exceed €125 million annually, or €1.25 billion over 10 years.
Source: Billboard