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Musician Kid Rock, right, speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump, left, listens during a signing ceremony for H.R. 1551, the Hatch-Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. Trump on Wednesday said the "Fed has gone crazy" with interest-rate increases this year and doubled-down on Thursday, blaming the nation's "out of control" central bank for a sixth straight day of losses in U.S. equities. Still, he said, "I'm not going to fire him." Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Image Credit: Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump welcomed musicians Kid Rock and country star John Rich to the White House on Thursday as he signed legislation overhauling the way music is licensed and songwriters compensated.

Trump signed the Orrin B. Hatch Music Modernization Act on Thursday. The bill won wide bipartisan support in the House and Senate and is backed by the music industry. It’s named after the retiring Utah senator, who is also a musician.

Also joining the president were Mike Love of the Beach Boys, singer Sam Moore and the Christian group MercyMe.

The legislation 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.