US Senate Panel Approves Radio Royalties For Performers
By Fawn Johnson, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a
bill to require radio stations to pay royalties to performers when their music
is aired, a top priority for the recording industry.
The Senate committee vote marks the furthest congressional progress yet for
the measure, although it is still far from becoming law.
Broadcast radio stations now pay song royalties to songwriters and producers,
but they don't pay performance fees for playing the artists' music.
In contrast, cable, satellite and Internet radio pay performance royalties.
Under the bill, large radio companies such as Clear Channel Communications
Inc. and Cox Radio Inc. would be required to pay negotiated royalties to
performers for playing their music on the air.
The measure includes features to accommodate financial woes of smaller
broadcasters. Broadcasters making less than $50,000 a year could elect to pay $
100 as a flat fee to play all the music they want. Mid-sized stations also would
have flat-fee royalty options on a tiered basis.
A similar bill passed the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year. Rep.
Howard Berman, D-Calif., one of the lead sponsors in the House, has acknowledged
that the measure isn't likely to see a House floor vote this year because it
doesn't yet have enough supporters.
The National Association of Broadcasters has been lobbying aggressively
against the bill and has garnered enough members in the House to stop the bill
from becoming law.
The NAB argues that performers receive free promotions worth millions when
their music airs on the radio.
Broadcasters also say the extra cost for the royalties would be devastating to
their businesses. The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the
National Association of Media Brokers told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., earlier this week that the legislation would throw at
least a third of minority broadcasters into bankruptcy.
The musicians' supporters - the Recording Industry Association of America and
the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists among them - say the
U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't pay
performance royalties. That disparity costs American musicians between $70
million and $100 a million a year, according to Leahy.
The bill also includes language to set the same general royalty rates across
different broadcast platforms, a particular concern for Internet radio. Sen.
Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., has asked for such changes, and further negotiation
on those provisions is expected.
-By Fawn Johnson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9263; fawn.johnson@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-15-091131ET
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