independent record labels is an exercise in futility for Independent Music Creator Owners—those who own the copyrights and market their work themselves. Independent Music Creator Owners lack the economic, legal, and political resources to stand up to the Dominant Online Music Distribution Platforms and have no way to meaningfully negotiate fair licensing rates for their work. (8) That power imbalance means that Independent Music Creator Owners are forced to take whatever terms dominant online platforms offer for their work. If they decline, the platforms simply ignore them since in most cases lacking access to any single artists’ work does not present a threat to the platforms’ overall attractiveness to consumers. (9) This imbalance has decimated careers in music at an untold cost to our society and culture. Multi Grammy-award winning musician Rosanne Cash recently lamented: I see young musicians give up their missions and dreams all the time because they can’t make a living. (10) The antitrust laws were intended to and do provide important economic and civic benefits. (11) A central purpose of these laws is to promote, protect, and strengthen fair and open markets, including those for music. (12) While antitrust exemptions are generally disfavored, should the application of the antitrust laws ever be applied in a manner that conflicts with their purpose—such as protecting the online marketplace for creative works—it is the duty and prerogative of the Congress to resolve the conflict. 3. Safe harbor for certain collective negotiations (a) Definitions For purposes of this section: (1) The term antitrust laws has the meaning given such term in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act ( 15 U.S.C. 12 ), and includes— (A) section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act ( 15 U.S.C. 45 ) to the extent that such section applies to unfair methods of competition