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Monday, May 18, 2009

NEW BILL H.R. 848 and HOW IT CAN AFFECT YOU!

Ever since radio first commandeered the airwaves, songwriters have made
a small amount of money through royalties every time their tunes are played in most countries, while performers have received nothing. A group called musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today) Coalition, a collection of music industry organizations including the Recording Industry Association of America, is working to change that.

They're lobbying for a bill before Congress known as the Performance Rights Act (HR.848). The bill proposes that everyone who performs on a record from session players to lead and background singers be paid for the use of their work. Under current law, only songwriters are paid a royalty fee when their works are played publicly. The bill is set for final revisions this month before possibly being sent to the House floor
for debate.

Radio Nerves Rattled Record companies and artists have taken their appeal to Congress, seeking to get paid more for the content they provide. But radio stations are understandably resisting, feeling that on air exposure is more than enough compensation. Radio stations are also concerned because
ad revenue has taken a substantial hit due to the downturn in the economy, forcing many station to downsize and even cut back on staffing.

It's not clear exactly how much performers might make if the bill passes. Without negotiations, if the bill passes, the final royalty rate
would likely be set by the federal Copyright Royalty Board. But according to musicFIRST, the Performance Rights Act will force small
radio stations to shut down.

"They will pay $5,000 or less a year to clear the rights to all the music they use," said musicFIRST spokesman Martin Machowsky. "Public and
college radio stations will pay only $1,000 a year. Talk radio, radio stations that carry religious services, and other stations that make
only incidental use of music will pay nothing."

For several decades, AM and FM radio broadcasters have been exempt from current copyright law which requires satellite radio, cable radio channels, and Internet webcasts to pay a royalty for the use of music.
The performance rights act would correct a loophole in the copyright law by removing the broadcaster exemption so that all delivery platforms are on equal footing and that artists would receive a performance royalty.

Call To Action Day
Both May 11 and 12 have been designated by musicFIRST to be a Call For Action Day. The organization asks that you call your congressmen to let
them know how you feel. Singers and musicians generally receive a fee
for their work on projects. These projects endure overtime, continuing
to move, inspire and entertain listeners while the songwriter is the only artist being compensated.

Imagine a day when you receive additional compensation each time that
voice you work so hard to perfect and engage is heard. Visit
www.musicfirstcoalition.org for more details.

Me personally I'm not in favor or against this bill. Being I'm a musician I definilty want to get paid for my creations and involvement in music but what kind of bill would this create for "BLACK RADIO" this could possibly cost "Black Radio" millions and force them cut things in other areas and or cut the play of music. Man I'm not too hip how deep this is but this may be a problem.

I'm so glad I made a lot of my bread in the 90's because they making super hard to make money these days. My heart goes out to yall new producers and artist.

6 comments:

DJ Torkaveli said...

This basically sums up how I feel about it

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5711ed2dbf22abc8fd19e884ca4a77e1

Blackstone said...

It don't sound bad. But who really listens to radio anymore anyway.

Anonymous said...

Radio One has turned what is an issue between broadcasters and the music industry into a race issue. Since this bill has gone through committee, over 90 percent of African American owned radio stations would be pay less than 5,000k a year for all the music they play.

If you think about it, there is no other industry that gets their major input for free. Restaurants have to pay for meat and protein, clothing stores have to pay for their products, etc., etc. But radio is the only industry where they are exempted from paying for the very thing that draws listeners to their stations.

I hope people will not fall for the rhetoric, Radio One is a million dollar industry. The least they can do is pay musicians and copyright owners for their product.

DCPierre said...

Radio One has turned what is an issue between broadcasters and the music industry into a race issue. Since this bill has gone through committee, over 90 percent of African American owned radio stations would be pay less than 5,000k a year for all the music they play.

If you think about it, there is no other industry that gets their major input for free. Restaurants have to pay for meat and protein, clothing stores have to pay for their products, etc., etc. But radio is the only industry where they are exempted from paying for the very thing that draws listeners to their stations.

I hope people will not fall for the rhetoric, Radio One is a million dollar industry. The least they can do is pay musicians and copyright owners for their product.

MrMartinezBodega said...

radio stations aren't exempt from paying anything. They already have to pay for a blanket license from the Performance Rights Organizations (ASCAP, SECAC, BMI).

Anonymous said...

THis was a critical issue when I was in school learning copyright law; performance rights in songs vs masters. Everybody on here that's an artist/producer/songwriter needs to pick up "The Future of the Music Business" by Steve Gordon. It delves into this exact issue. Back in the day, the record industry was in kahoots with commercial radio in order to drive CD sales up, which is why u have the payola and the same 2 songs playing on the radio all day everyday. Now that CD sales are at it's lowest, now the RIAA's coming back and saying to radio "you guys are making all the money from our music...we want our share now!!" Radio already spends millions of dollars paying blanket licenses to BMI and ASCAP, so if they have to spend that same amount of money to give RIAA a share, this could literally bankrupt a lot of radio stations. With that said, I'm not at all sympathetic to these radio stations. Mufuckas been screaming for the last 10 years to stop laying in bed with the big 5 (big 4 now). To make agreements directly with independent labels that aren't constrained to the old music business model. There are many companies that are changing the way we look at copyright. Shit like Creative Commons licenses, DRM-free mp3's, etc are going to be the new thing moving forward. Now that Radio One and Clear Channel have made BILLIONS off the music, it's too late to come back and cry now. What's stopping radio from locking down agreements with all the independent labels to where they can play our music, and we wouldn't hold you to the prisoner-type shit that the majors are doing. For this shit to last, the industry will have to be totally destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. But as long as Big Radio wants to keep laying in bed with the majors, get ready to spend that money..Monkey..

Stay independent..make your own decisions, and you don't need to worry bout none of this shit

Sheezy
Write Away Publishing