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House bill · H.R. 8994 (119th Congress)

Protect Working Musicians Act of 2026

U.S. House of Representatives

Latest action May 29, 2026

Sponsor: Deborah K. Ross (U.S. Representative, NC-2, Democratic)

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From Congress.gov and official rosters. This record was last updated Sep 8, 2026. About our data

Summary

Protect Working Musicians Act of 202 6 This bill allows certain individual music creator owners to collectively negotiate music licensing terms with dominant online music distribution platforms or companies engaged in development or deployment of generative artificial intelligence, including the right to collectively refuse to license their music to such platforms or companies. Individual music creator owners include musicians, producers, and technicians who own the copyright to a recording and either (1) earned less than $1 million in associated revenues during the prior year, or (2) qualify as a record production and distribution small business. Dominant online music distribution platforms include interactive online services with annual revenues from music distribution of more than $100 million. Generative artificial intelligence includes artificial intelligence systems that are capable of producing novel text, video, images, audio, and other media based on prompts or other forms of inputted data.

Summary from the Congressional Research Service. How we handle summaries

Where it stands

Assigned to a committee for review.

  1. Introduced
  2. In committee
  3. Up for a vote
  4. Passed one chamber
  5. Passed
  6. Enacted

Committee

House Committee on the Judiciary · U.S. House of Representatives

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Cosponsors

3

Cosponsors listed on Congress.gov, shown A to Z.

  • Democratic3

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Related bills

As identified by Congress.gov.

Full history

  1. May 29, 2026

    Introduced

    Introduced in U.S. House

    U.S. House

  2. May 21, 2026

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    U.S. House of Representatives

  3. May 21, 2026

    In committee

    Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

    U.S. House

  4. May 21, 2026

    Referred to committee

    Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

    U.S. House of Representatives

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