ShareCongress has continually recognized that local radio is different from other musical platforms and should not be subject to a performance tax. Local radio is free, so everyone, regardless of income, can have access to it. Local radio also has to fulfill certain public service obligations that other platforms do not. And importantly, the free [...]
New legislation in Congress could drastically change music-industry economics. As it currently stands, musicians in the U.S. aren’t paid when their songs are played on the radio unless they wrote the songs, too. Only songwriters get radio royalties, not the folks who play and sing their tunes. Two bills moving through the House and Senate would change that, by making radio broadcasters pay royalties to musicians, too.
Radio broadcasters hate the idea of performance royalties — really, really hate it. They’re speaking up in Congress and on air.
November 24, 2009
A new report from Washington Research Group Concept Capital says that is it becoming less likely that the Performance Rights Act, which would force radio stations to pay royalties for playing music, will become law. In recent months, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees have approved the legislation, and a meeting was held between broadcasters and record labels to engage in mediated discussions over a possible compromise. However, Concept Capital says the odds are dropping for the legislation to pass in the 2009-10 Congress. The research group reduced its estimate from 60 percent to 40 percent odds of the bill passing in the next 12 months.
November 24, 2009
Arbitron has been invited to testify next Wednesday, December 2 in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The hearing will examine the PPM ratings service and discuss “whether the PPM technology and methodology accurately measure radio audiences and whether PPM has a disproportionately negative impact on radio stations owned by minorities or targeted toward minority listeners.”
