The U.S. House of Representatives passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979) and the American Music Tourism Act (H.R. 1768) within 20 minutes of each other on the 15th, then advanced the MAIN Event Ticketing Act (H.R. 2713) out of the Committee on Energy and Commerce the next day.
The three bills take different approaches. The radio and ticketing measures would impose new private-sector rules with enforcement and penalties, while the tourism measure would provide federal support to the music industry.
American Music Tourism Act
The tourism bill passed the House on the night of the 15th and now heads to President Trump for signature. It directs the Commerce Department to promote international travel to music events in the United States and to report on the results after one year.
The measure is structured as an economic development bill and aims to attract more international spending in the U.S., which is the world’s largest recorded music market.
AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act
The AM radio bill would require vehicles manufactured in or imported into the United States to include AM radio, effective one year after enactment. It has been placed on the Senate legislative calendar for a vote, where it already has 60 cosponsors.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said, “[T]he House took a major step toward keeping AM radio in every new vehicle, ensuring our constituents never lose access to essential emergency warnings as well as some of their favorite broadcasting.”
The measure steps in against the direction of automobile industry technology development to preserve the existing AM radio market.
MAIN Event Ticketing Act
The ticketing bill would strengthen the Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 (15 U.S.C. 45c) by requiring online ticket sellers to enforce purchase limits with a technological security measure. Platforms would also have to report when their systems are circumvented and would face civil penalties of at least $10,000 per day of violation.
Its companion Senate bill, S.196, passed the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation last September and has been waiting for a vote since then. The legislation updates a decade-old anti-bot law to keep pace with ticketing technology.
Other pending music legislation
The Transparency in Charges for Key Events Ticketing (TICKET) Act (H.R. 1402), which would institute consumer-friendly ticket pricing reforms, passed the House last April and has been awaiting a Senate vote since September. State legislatures have moved ahead with their own ticketing transparency laws and speculative ticketing bans while federal action remains pending.
The Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) and the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA) remain stalled in Congress after multiple introductions. The RAP Act would restrict prosecutors from using a defendant’s musical work in criminal cases, and the AMFA would require terrestrial radio to pay public performance royalties to sound recording copyright holders.
