What is the Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act?

It’s not a new right so much as a direct line to SoundExchange.

The Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act provides royalty payouts for producers and engineers when their recordings are played on satellite and online radio stations. The affected parties had to apply through artists for those payments before — a process that was often extremely cumbersome.

It should be noted that the AMP Act did not create a new right when it was passed as part of 2018’s Music Modernization Act (MMA). Producers and engineers continue to collect any royalties that were previously due.

However, the AMP Act established a legal procedure to collect royalties directly from SoundExchange rather than the artist in question. This formalized a process that had already been in place, giving producers and engineers who worked on recordings before 1995 the ability to apply for direct royalty payments.

The AMP Act is actually the first time producers and engineers have ever been mentioned in copyright law — both a nod to the vital role they play in music creation, and an acknowledgment of emerging trends in the way music is created and propagated.

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