8-20-2012
Monday afternoon, Congressman Jerrold Nadler circulated a discussion draft of the Interim Fairness in Radio Starts Today (FIRST) Act. The proposed legislation is a step toward a law requiring radio stations to pay a fee directly to artists for playing their music. This would be in addition to fees radio stations already pay to BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. Nadler said, "The lack of a performance royalty for terrestrial radio airplay is a significant inequity and grossly unfair. Terrestrial radio companies have built into their businesses an exemption from paying a performance right." Nadler has not specified what the fee should be nor does he have any co-sponsors at this time.
Radio has long held the position that there is a lot of value for an artist to get their music played on radio, in that it leads to consumers buying their music. A recent Nielson study confirmed that consumers still choose radio when seeking out new music. A representative from Nadler's office told Radio Ink today that there was "some mutual benefit." But added, "Radio wouldn't have anything to play without the songs."
Representative Nadler also said, "It is a violation of fundamental principles of intellectual property that artists would be denied the right to control their own creations, as is the case now with sound recordings over broadcast radio. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have a performance right for sound recordings over terrestrial radio."
(8/20/2012 7:29:47 PM)
This will happen in some form- it's just a matter of when. What is the argument for not paying for the product that you use and leverage to sell advertising against?
The "promotional" argument is invalid, as there are a myriad of radio services that pay for the product that they "promote" and use to leverage audience and advertising. What is the fundamental difference?
The artist would continue to be discovered and consumed- with or without radio. Radio is nothing without the artist.
Radio is no friend to the vast majority of artists as the playlists are so arbitrarily shorted.
I wonder, meanwhile, what might happen should the artists form a group that gains an injunction against those stations who refuse to pay for the exact product they are using to identify and promote their own interests.
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