The CLASSICS Act or Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contributions to Society Act is Title II of the Music Modernization Act and was proposed legislation as H.R. 3301 of the

115th United States Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate, Senate and the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. ...

to amend title 17 of the United States Code, to provide Federal protection to the digital audio transmission of a sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, and for other purposes. The bill was first introduced in the House of Representatives on July 19, 2017 by Representative Darrell Issa. A companion bill (S.2393) was introduced in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Senator Chris Coons on February 7, 2018. The CLASSICS Act was consolidated into the

Music Modernization Act The Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, or Music Modernization Act or MMA (, ) is United States legislation signed into law on October 11, 2018 aimed to modernize copyright-related issues for music and audio recordings due t ...

(H.R.5447) on April 10, 2018. The Music Modernization Act passed in the House of Representatives on April 26, 2018, and passed the Senate on September 18, 2018, with the Senate renaming the bill the "Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act" after Senator

Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator ...

. The Music Modernization Act, with the CLASSICS Act codified as Title II within it, was signed into law by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

on October 11, 2018. Previously, sound recordings made before February 15, 1972 were not covered by federal copyright protection. Some states granted these recordings copyright protection and some did not. The CLASSICS Act was designed to address the patchwork of laws in different jurisdictions. The law grants copyright protection of the recordings until February 15, 2067, effectively giving up to 144 years of protection to early recordings. The Music Modernization Act was revised to allow older songs to enter the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. Recordings made before 1923 entered the public domain after a 3-year period on January 1, 2022, with recordings from 1923 to 1956 entering within the next few decades. Recordings from 1957 to 1972 will be protected until 2067.

References

{{USCopyrightActs Proposed legislation of the 115th United States Congress United States federal copyright legislation Internet law in the United States