That's not necessary. Many PROs have reciprocal international agreements with different countries because it would be an absolute nightmare for an artist/publisher/label/etc to register with every single one of them.
This will not happen. Commissioning new works is a process and along with it comes a whole host of IP concerns related to "works for hire". I could not imagine figure skaters and their teams undertaking such a thing. Furthermore, even if they did, commissioned works would be the domain of the sport's most financially privileged.
The concept of musicians forsaking their royalties and copyright for "more exposure" has a long, twisted, and ugly history. Ask any musician—in particular working-/middle-class musicians—they would rather be compensated fairly. This is why UMAW is currently pushing for South By Southwest, one of the largest industry conferences/showcases, to pay artists better:
https://weareumaw.org/fair-pay-at-sxsw
Musicians have always had the right to determine who gets to use their music or not. Mostly, artists DGAF about it, as long as the proper licensing is acquired. The largest instances where this becomes an issue is with political campaigns, where a musician/etc issues a C&D for infringement.
I don't have access to the K/F court documents, but reading the coverage, I would guess they settled because it was cheaper than litigation, and kept the attention off them/USFS. I can imagine the optics looked bad, but my .02 is that K/F used the music fairly, and the plaintiffs claimed it counted as a film/commerical sync (which requires direct permission from the writer/publisher), which it was not. Pretty easy to see how a judge would rule in their favor, because the musician's argument was pretty bogus in the first place.
I know I said above that musicians deserve compensation—they do—but I think it's important to point out that HYH decided to capitalize on the media attention around the Olys because in the end it would warrant a payout. If you look at their IMDB credits, they pretty much stop at 2021, so my gut tells me they were looking for money, which they got, but I have to wonder if the PR attention helped their bottom line.
For as confusing as the K/F v. HYH case is, I do think it was important. The issue of licensing and how it intersects with skating has been ongoing; back when I gave a paper on this at the 2006 EMP Pop Conference ("Lost In Translation: Musical Selection In Figure Skating") people were extremely curious.
Ben Sisario wrote a good piece on this for 2018.
I already see some folks grousing about USFS passing along the cost to the member, however it may pan out (competitions or membership fee increases). I don't think this is a bad thing.
Just looking at this thread and witnessing how little posters here understand the differences between the concepts of copyright, licensing, televised broadcast, streaming, and digital playback, I think skaters (and USFS) are long overdue for truly understanding the value of the music underscoring the public's appeal and fascination with the sport.
I'm about to dive into the USFS recording, but I do wish they would partner with the folks at the Future of Music Coalition to help build out some educational materials for skaters, choreographers, clubs, et al. I think as someone who has a personal interest in both avenues, it is my hope that the outcome is skaters/etc become more informed about music and serve as allies in musician's efforts for proper compensation, especially in the US.
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It's not that long for musicians.
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