Lost in all the news (which, this being a non-political site, we won't mention), here in the US the legislature has passed a bipartisan bill that will "substantially overhaul the way music is licensed and songwriters compensated for songs online".  The law "creates a new independent entity that will license songs to companies that play music online ... The nonprofit collective will then pay songwriters, including those who wrote pre-1970s classics before music copyrights protected their work".

source

That's all I know at the moment (and I'm rushing to get out the door), but would like to know more.

The government is creating a "new independent entity"
Kinda of an oxymoron sounding phrase to me...

The bill details are here:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5447

Interesting, that it was sponsored by a local retiring Congressman, (VA. 6th is next door to me) but I can't remember hearing anything about this, even on the local news. I guess if there ain't nothing to fight about, they don't bother with it! 

That said, I went looking for the Bill Summary, and it wasn't posted yet, but those things are often confusing anyway. So I read a few things online. With the disclaimer, I don't make a living writing, recording, or performing music anymore - it seems like a reasonable solution. At least a step in the direction of keeping up with technology.

www.billboard.com/amp/articles/business/8216857/music-modernization-act-what-is-it-why-does-it-matter-jordan-bromley

Thanks for the Billboard article; that was helpful.