WASHINGTON – More than 300 registration artists, including some of the biggest names in the music industry, are pressing legislators to pass a draft law that requires ground radio stations to pay them in exchange for the rights to play their songs.
In a message to the leaders of Congress obtained by NBC News, music stars such as Aerosmith, Barbra Streisand, Céline Dion, Gloria Estefan, James Taylor, Jelly Roll, Lil Jon, Lin-Manuel Miranda, dollars of royalties that they feel right.
“For decades now, the corporate broadcasters have underestimated an old loophole in the law to take advantage of advertisements resulting from unlimited use of free music,” says the message. “Every year, the AM/FM radio stations play nearly a billion songs. Every year, the giant radio companies are declaring billions in dollars with the refusal to pay one cent of artists behind music.”
The letter calls for a quick passage of the American Musical Music Law, which would create a stream of revenue for the performance artists.
Most terrestrial stations share licensing entities called Performance Rights Foundations, which then pay royalties to register companies and songwriters. These royalties are not transferred to performance artists, although some artists are also song authors.
Organizations, which represent radio stations, responded that both broadcasters and musicians have benefited from the exposure imposed through Radio Air Play. They argue that the royalties they pay through licensing agreements are already very expensive and that imposing another cost can harm the radio industry that is already struggling.
“These additional royalties can financially paralyze many local radio stations and harm millions of listeners who rely on the local radio for news, emergency information, weather and entertainment,” said the National Association of Black Old Sellers in a statement.
The American music law has small stations and independently owned to pay at least $ 500 a year for its right to play unlimited music.
Artists who fell in the message argue that in the era of the Internet and the flowing music, free air play is more useful for the lower lines for broadcasters than artists.
“When, the radio has shown free promotion to the artists who were looking to achieve this,” singer/songwriter Carly Simon said in a statement. “This is no longer the case. In the digital age, fewer Americans discover a fewer American music on radio. Instead, AM/FM reaps billions of dollars every year in advertising revenues without compensating artists who play their songs. This is. It needs to be terminated.
In addition to the message, R& B Stars Boyz II will submit their case to legislators on Thursday at Capitol Hill, with plans to meet a long list of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“We hope that Congress will listen to the voices of the artists and pass this law.”
Several different publications of the American Musical Music Law have been presented over the years, but the draft law has not yet obtained a vote at the committee level.
