Music Copyright Law Previously Hailed as "Common Ground" Begins to Crumble in Court

     In October of 2018, President Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, also known as the MMA, into law, a rare case of bipartisan collaboration in a time of unfruitful attempts to govern. The bill was intended to protect songwriters and artists from not being paid due to an arbitrary expiration date- 1972, to be exact- on being properly compensated by streaming services. As President Trump was signing what has been called the “Most Important Legislation in a Generation to Help Songwriters,” Trump was flanked by artists such as Kid Rock, Mercy Me, the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and the Beach Boys.

Eminem and his publisher would not agree on many of these descriptions of the MMA. On August 21st, Eight Mile filed a suit claiming that under this new law, Spotify has infringed on hundreds of Eminem's copyrights. Apparently, a loophole was found in the Music Modernization Act that has allowed the Stockholm-based music streaming service to stream Eminem's tracks without appropriately paying the publisher. This is a testament to the fact that what may seem like a win for one group of people may, in fact, be damaging to another. When crafting legislation or taking action regarding issues such as free speech and copyright, we must think of the long-reaching consequences and search for any way that a policy or law could be abused.