What does the Music Modernization Act mean for your streaming subscriptions?

What it means for your wallet.
 By 
Alison Foreman
 on 
What does the Music Modernization Act mean for your streaming subscriptions?
Credit: GETTY IMAGES/PHOTOALTO

The Music Modernization Act (MMA) is officially law. And, as evidenced by the musician-packed Oval Office from earlier this afternoon, that means a lot of things for a lot of different people.

The former bill turned law ensures artists receive the compensation they are owed, encourages fair industry competition, and protects the intellectual property rights of studios nationwide—among other benefits.

While the journey to get MMA in place was a long, hard-fought battle between the tech and music industries, MMA's final form will be implemented beginning January 1, 2020.

So, how will this sweeping copyright reform affect you and your daily music lineup?

Turns out, almost not at all.

Of course, MMA supporters argue newly reformed market competition will result in better music for everyone—but, when it comes to your monthly streaming service bill, you shouldn't be seeing any change.

Yes, services like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music will be affected. But their customers should not be.

Here's what two major streaming service reps are saying about the historic development:

Spotify's General Counsel and VP Business & Legal Affairs, Horacio Gutierrez:

"One of our core missions at Spotify is to enable a million artists to make a good living from what they love: creating and performing music. The Music Modernization Act is a huge step towards making that a reality, modernizing the outdated licensing system to suit the digital world we live in. The MMA will benefit the music community and create a more transparent and streamlined approach to music licensing and payment for artists."

Pandora's General Counsel, Steve Bene:

"Today's signing of the Music Modernization Act is a generation-defining win for music artists, songwriters, platforms and – most importantly – the fans. This legislation is the product of both unprecedented cooperation from within the music industry, as well as a bipartisan group of champions on Capitol Hill who made this a reality. The MMA brings the rules governing music into the 21st century, and represents a holistic improvement that will benefit the entire music ecosystem."

Check out what other music industry players have to say here.

Topics Music

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Alison Foreman

Alison Foreman is one heck of a gal. She's also a writer in Los Angeles, who used to cover movies, TV, video games, and the internet for Mashable. @alfaforeman

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