A letter to creators about H.R. 6028.

A bill called H.R. 6028 passed the House of Representatives by voice vote in early June 2026. It has a dry, bureaucratic name — the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act — and it's been covered mostly by policy wonks and IP lawyers. Most producers and independent creators haven't heard of it.

They should have.

Because buried inside this bill is a structural change to the U.S. Copyright Office that affects who controls the policy decisions governing your music, your beats, your publishing royalties, and whether AI companies need your permission before training their models on your catalog.

The Copyright Office is the institution that decides what happens to your music at the policy level. H.R. 6028 puts a political appointee in charge of it.

What the Copyright Office actually does for you

Before getting into the bill, it's worth being clear about what the Copyright Office does — because most creators interact with it less than they should, and fewer understand how central it is to the entire music economy. The Copyright Office is the federal agency responsible for:

• Processing copyright registrations — the legal prerequisite for suing anyone who uses your work without permission.
• Setting policy on what qualifies for copyright protection — including whether AI-generated content can be copyrighted and how AI training interacts with your rights.
• Overseeing the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) — the body that collects and distributes the mechanical royalties you earn every time your composition is streamed.
• Participating in the Copyright Royalty Board process — where the streaming mechanical royalty rate gets set.
• Running the triennial DMCA Section 1201 rulemaking — which determines when creators can legally work with DRM-protected content.

The rules the Copyright Office makes determine how much you get paid, what legal tools you have to protect your work, and whether the AI music economy respects your rights or runs over them.

What H.R. 6028 does

The bill does three things that matter for creators:

1. It separates the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress

The Copyright Office has been housed within the Library of Congress since 1870 — a legislative branch institution that operates with a degree of independence from whoever is in the White House. H.R. 6028 ends that relationship, making the Copyright Office its own standalone entity.

2. It makes the Register of Copyrights a presidential appointee

The Register of Copyrights is the head of the Copyright Office — the person who shapes its policy positions, signs off on guidance, represents the U.S. in international IP negotiations, and oversees everything from registration processing to AI copyright rulemaking. Currently the Register is appointed by the Librarian of Congress. Under H.R. 6028, the president nominates the Register and the Senate confirms them, for a 10-year term with eligibility for reappointment.

What this means in plain terms: whoever is president gets to pick the person who runs U.S. copyright policy — and that person's views on AI training, fair use, streaming royalties, and creator rights will be shaped by the administration that appointed them.

3. It shifts DMCA Section 1201 rulemaking authority to the Register alone

Every three years the Copyright Office runs a proceeding where creators can petition for exemptions to DMCA Section 1201 — the law against bypassing digital locks. Past exemptions have protected non-commercial remixing, sampling, and archival use. Currently the Librarian of Congress makes the final call. H.R. 6028 removes that check, putting the decision solely with the Register — who, under this bill, is a presidential appointee.

Why it was introduced — and why the timing matters

H.R. 6028 was introduced in November 2025, six months after one of the most politically charged moments in Copyright Office history. On May 9, 2025, the Copyright Office — led by Register Shira Perlmutter — released a major report on AI and copyright. Its findings sided squarely with human creators: training AI on copyrighted music without authorization likely constitutes infringement; AI-generated music competing with the works it trained on is unlikely to be fair use; and consent should be the baseline, not an opt-out.

The report was released on Friday. Perlmutter was fired on Saturday. H.R. 6028 was introduced six months later.

Rep. Joe Morelle stated publicly that the firing was "no coincidence" after Perlmutter "refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models." The bill passed the House by voice vote — a method typically reserved for uncontroversial measures — without hearings specifically on the Copyright Office provisions. It is now in the Senate.

What this means for producers and independent creators

Your beats could train AI — without consent or compensation

The strongest official U.S. statement that AI training on copyrighted music requires authorization is the Perlmutter report. A future Register, appointed by an administration with close ties to AI companies, could issue guidance that walks those conclusions back — softening the fair use analysis or endorsing an opt-out framework where your entire catalog becomes fair game unless you actively manage an exclusion process for every track.

The streaming royalty rate could come under pressure

The mechanical royalty rate is set by the Copyright Royalty Board, currently escalating toward 15.35% of DSP revenue by 2027. A Register sympathetic to streaming platforms could shift the office's institutional weight in future rate fights. This isn't theoretical — when Spotify reclassified Premium subscriptions as "bundles" in 2024, the NMPA estimated a $230 million first-year loss to songwriters and publishers.

The MLC is overseen by the Copyright Office

If you publish music, you receive mechanical royalties through the MLC, which operates under Copyright Office oversight. A politically-appointed Register who approaches that oversight differently changes the accountability environment for every distribution to every songwriter in the system.

What independent creators can do

H.R. 6028 is now in the Senate, which can still amend or reject the Copyright Office provisions. Here's what's actionable:

• Contact your senators. Keep it specific: you're a music creator, you depend on the Copyright Office's independence, and you want these provisions to receive proper hearings before a vote.
• Register your copyrights — now. Registration is the legal foundation for enforcement and statutory damages. Go to copyright.gov.
• Register your compositions with the MLC. Unmatched royalties sit in a pool — they don't find you automatically. Check themlc.com.
• Stay current on the AI litigation. The UMG v. Suno ruling, expected summer 2026, may be the most significant copyright decision for producers in decades.

The bottom line

Major labels have legal teams. Streaming platforms have lobbyists. Independent producers and songwriters have the Copyright Office. H.R. 6028 changes who that institution answers to.

The Perlmutter report said, clearly and officially, that training AI on your music without your consent is likely infringement, that your catalog has licensing value, and that you should not have to opt out. That position is now at risk — not because the law changed, but because the bill before the Senate would put a political appointee in charge of maintaining it.

The Senate hasn't voted yet. That's the window.

Resources

• Contact your senators: senate.gov/senators/contact
• Copyright registration: copyright.gov/registration
• MLC registration: themlc.com
• H.R. 6028 bill text: congress.gov (search "HR 6028 119th Congress")
• Perlmutter AI report: copyright.gov/ai

This briefing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Sources: Congress.gov; U.S. Copyright Office; EFF (June 2026); Roll Call (June 2026); NMPA; themlc.com; AP / Hollywood Reporter (May 2025).