Performance Rights Amendment

Performance Rights Amendment - Provides, under the Copyright Act, for the establishment of a performance royalty. Gives exclusive rights to copyright holders to perform publicly for profit and to reproduce and distribute to the public, by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending, any reproduction of a copyrighted work which is a sound recording.

Limits the exclusive rights of the owner of a copyright to duplicate the sound recording in a tangible form that recaptures the actual sounds fixed in the recording, and to perform those actual sounds. Provides that these rights do not extend to the making or duplication of another sound recording that is an independent fixation of other sounds, or to the performance of other sounds, even though such sounds imitate or simulate those in the copyrighted sound recording; or to reproductions made by broadcasting organizations exclusively for their own use.

Provides that where the copyrighted sound recording has been distributed to the public under the authority of the copyright owner, the public performance of the sound recording shall be subject to compulsory licensing.

Establishes a compulsory licensing system whereby those who use sound recordings for profit would be required to pay a fee (performance royalty) to the copyright owner. Provides that such fees shall be placed in a fund out of which copyright owners are compensated.

Specifies that the annual royalty fees, at the user's option, may be computed on either a blanket or a prorated basis. Allows the substitution of a negotiated license for the compulsory license at a rate not less than specified in this Act.

Sets forth detailed payment requirements for royalties under the compulsory licensing provisions of this amendment. (Amends 17 U.S.C. 1; Adds 17 U.S.C. 33)