The Music Industry Unites to Change the DMCA

Ashley Rovner | April 27, 2016

It’s not everyday that hundreds of artists, songwriters, managers, and music organizations band together for a common cause. But when a piece of legislation from the late 1990s has begun to threaten their business, livelihood, and art, it’s hardly surprising that their issue needs to be addressed. Almost 30 years of innovation and progress in the music industry has created an entirely new arena for the music industry, primarily in the digital world. As a result, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has failed to meet the standards of protection for which it was originally drafted and the music industry is demanding a change.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), these 400 individual artists, managers, songwriters, and music organizations are calling on Congress to reform federal laws in order to strengthen the music economy and create “a healthier, more stable music ecosystem for the next generation of singers, songwriters, and musicians.” Among the artists involved are Katy Perry, Steven Tyler, and Lionel Richie, pointing to the breadth of the desire to reform the outdated DMCA, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

According the RIAA, the music industry faults the DMCA for forcing creators of music to “police the entire Internet for instances of theft, placing an undue burden on these artists and unfairly favoring technology companies and rogue pirate sites. On December 31, 2015, the Copyright Office took notice of the music world’s cry and announced its intent to re-evaluate the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA. These provisions, supposedly, protect Internet service providers from third parties who illegally share protected content online, states the Hollywood Reporter. The Copyright Office stated that Congress wrote the DMCA because of the necessity to protect protected material from online infringement as the Internet continues to grow. But, there was little chance that Congress could know how much the Internet would impact daily life today. However, the Copyright Office did say that it would discuss the costs and burdens of notice-and-takedown processes on different copyright owners, online services providers, and the public in general.

As stated in the Hollywood Reporter, the DMCA was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1998 in order to update copyright laws to support advances in the digital age. Given the exponential progress of technology and the massive expansion of the Internet’s influence over people’s daily lives, the DMCA is “disturbingly out of date” according to the RIAA petition. Over 18 music organizations in conjunction with artists and songwriters have submitted a 97-page brief explaining the flaws of the DMCA and calling for reforms. The RIAA states that these flaws include a broken notice-and-takedown system, toothless repeat infringer policies, and incentives for services to turn a blind eye to infringement instead of preventing such widespread illegal practices. The participants in the petition hold that “20 years later, [the DMCA] bears little resemblance to the expectations of the Music Community” and “has now become a dysfunctional relic, not suited to the realities of the 21^st century.”

On the other side of this issue, tech businesses and communities don’t necessarily agree with all of the attacks against the DMCA. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Internet Association, which represented companies like Facebook, Google, and Netflix, insist that the DMCA is working just as it should be. The Association claims that the DMCA “creates safe harbors for Internet platforms by ensuring they will not be liable for what their users do, so long as the platforms act responsibly.” The law thus allows people to post on the Internet platforms anything they see fit, which is what the DMCA sought to allow

According to the RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman, there hasn’t been a time where “the entire music community has united behind an issue like it has this one – speaking with a collective voice for reform of the DMCA.” With so many voices going against the DMCA and its ineffective, outdated procedures, the issue with copyright reform within the music industry still remains. The introduction of the petition to Congress to reform the DMCA recognizes the great innovations within the music industry, stating that, “more music is being enjoyed than ever before by fans around the globe” and “digital platforms are using music to build and drive their businesses.” But these advances are constantly set back due to “growing market distortions” resulting from misuse of the DMCA, resulting in substantial harm to musicians and their ability to succeed in their industry.

Now it’s up to Congress to recognize the arguments from both sides. Will they side with tech companies who say that the DMCA facilitates the very nature of the Internet? Or will they recognize that, according to the RIAA, “DMCA reform is essential to bring about balance” because the fate of the music industry of today depends on it?

Click here and here for more information regarding the move to reform the DMCA.