From Music Times:
A new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives is being introduced in Congress this week that would give producers, engineers and mixers — often times the unsung and forgotten heroes in the whole song-making process — a piece of the digital royalty pie. The Allocation for Music Producer Act, or AMP Act (H.R. 1457), is being formally introduced by congressmen from both sides of the aisle: Reps. Joe Crowley (D-New York) and Tom Rooney (R-Florida).
In the past it has been up to the producers, engineers and mixers to negotiate their own splits on royalty payments. The AMP Act would create a statutory right for producers to receive royalties that would be managed through SoundExchange. This would give the producers, engineers and mixers the right to a piece of the digital royalties pie when this is becoming an increasingly important revenue stream with streaming.
This new framework will also give studio warriors the ability to negotiate with artists on works older than 1995, when the 45 percent digital royalty rate for artists was established. If the request was for more than four months, a collective will weigh in on the request and, if approved, give 2 percent of the 45 percent to the mixer, engineer or producer. The 2 percent would be split evenly if there are multiple requesters.
