“We are extremely grateful to Ambassador Lighthizer and his team for shining a spotlight on stream-ripping, one of the biggest threats to the American creative community, and acknowledges the role reverse proxy services play in making it more difficult for rights holders to address the source of piracy.  The American music industry is crucial to our nation’s economy and culture. This is an important moment to recognize what these threats are and who is enabling them, and to chart a strategy to go after them.  

“We are especially gratified that a specific focus of the reports is the substantial harm caused by stream-ripping piracy, labeling it as a ‘dominant method of music piracy causing substantial economic harm to music creators undermining legitimate online services.’  Stream-ripping services rip off creators by circumventing YouTube’s and other services’ systems.  A study from research firm MusicWatch concluded that while other forms of online theft have decreased, stream-ripping piracy remains one of the fastest growing forms of piracy today, with a 50% increase in the number of stream-rippers in the U.S. over a two-year period.

“The Notorious Markets report highlights the role of ‘reverse proxy services’ that allow operators of illegal websites to hide where their sites are hosted to evade enforcement efforts by rights holders.  The inclusion of these services also sends a strong signal to platforms such as CloudFlare to be more responsible players and work with creators to ensure that their services are not being used to for illegal purposes.

“USTR and the interagency team worked tirelessly to produce another high-quality Special 301 report and Notorious Market report, releasing them together for the first time.  These reports commit to promoting copyright protection and enforcement around the world, including the rejection of loopholes that diminish protections such as flawed safe harbors and over-broad exceptions. 

“We look forward to continuing to work with Ambassador Lighthizer and his team to help secure an environment where American creativity can thrive and prosper.”

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“We understand that USTR must navigate a complex trade landscape, and we appreciate the diligent work of Ambassador Lighthizer and his staff over the past several months.

“The USMCA contains several improvements in the area of copyright, including national treatment, which we hope will end Canada’s long-standing discrimination against American performers and record labels, and extending copyright term in Canada to bring it in line with global norms, which will benefit songwriters and music publishers in particular.  The agreement also continues the time-honored position of the United States on copyright exceptions, rejecting prior flawed proposals on fair use.

“In addition, the agreement’s enforcement provisions include technological protection measures, and its rules on digital trade protect sound recordings and other digital products from discrimination and duties.

“Unfortunately, the agreement’s text also enshrines outdated property rights limitations for works made available on Internet platforms.  These twenty-year-old limitations do not comport with today’s digital reality and have been shown to skew the marketplace at the expense of American creators and the U.S. music community, which provides real jobs and is one of our nation’s biggest cultural assets.

“Modern trade treaties should advance the policy priority of encouraging more accountability on public platforms, not less.  We are hopeful that the Administration and Congress will redouble their efforts to further this priority going forward, which is front and center in the national dialogue today.  We look forward to working with both USTR and Congress to ensure that these exceptions to property rights for American creators do not serve as a template but simply a launching pad for future negotiations toward a framework that works for everyone in the digital marketplace, including creators.”

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