Above photo: Rep. Mel Watts (D-NC), Chuck Brown, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), BeBe Winans, and Isaiah Washington.

“It’s time for the NAB and corporate radio to answer the tough questions about their refusal to pay artists and musicians,” said Doyle Bartlett, executive director of the musicFIRST Coalition. “AM and FM music radio stations earn $16 billion each year in advertising revenue. But not a single penny goes to the artists and musicians whose creativity, whose heart, whose soul and whose passion brings to life the music that listeners tune in to hear.”

“There are many questions that the NAB and corporate radio lobbyists can not possibly answer with a clear conscious,” Bartlett said. “Here are just three:”

1. How can you justify taking someone’s intellectual property and making $16 billion in annual advertising revenue off that property without compensating the creators and owners of the property? This runs against all basic notions of fairness and respect. You might expect this in places like Iran, North Korea and China where there also is no performance right on radio, but not in the United States.

2. Why do you deserve a competitive advantage in the music marketplace? Artists and musicians are paid when their music is broadcast on satellite radio, Internet radio and digital music services delivered through satellite and cable television. You pay them when you stream your broadcast signal online, or in the future, through Internet streaming on mobile phones. And artists and musicians are compensated in every other country that is a member of the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) – countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Greece.

3. Which of your leaders is right: David Rehr, president of NAB, or W. Russell Withers, head of the Withers Broadcasting Group and chairman of the NAB Radio Board? Mr. Rehr calls paying artists for their work product a “performance tax.” Really, the loophole in copyright law he is trying to salvage is merely an elaborate payment avoidance scheme. On the other hand, when Mr. Withers was questioned before the Senate Commerce Committee during a hearing last year, he said, “I disagree with ‘performance tax.’ It’s a performance fee.” What is wrong with paying a fee for product that makes you money?

Photo: Musicians, artists, and SoundExchange on Capitol Hill.

In a declaration of solidarity and an indication of the depth of support in the music community for securing a long-sought performance right on radio, thousands of artists have added their names to a diverse coalition within the U.S. music community – the musicFIRST Coalition – advocating a change in U.S. policy. Artists from Australia, Austria, Argentina, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan and the United Kingdom signed the petition.

The petition was delivered to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Cal.), who, along with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), introduced the “Performance Rights Act of 2007” in the U. S. House and Senate (H.R. 4789 and S. 2500). It was additionally delivered to members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

The petition, reads, in part –

“From the aspiring career musician to the well-known star, performers today are being denied the payments in the U.S. that we receive in virtually every other country in the world. No other free-market nation in Europe or North America fails to pay broadcast royalties to artists and performers. It is ironic that the U.S. government, which proudly fights to protect the rights of artists and musicians in foreign countries, is today failing artists and musicians in its own back yard. We ask legislators in the U.S. to deliver a fair deal for artists when their music is played on the radio. We do not seek any subsidies or special favours; all we ask for is for fair payment from the people that exploit our work to generate their own successful businesses.”

Do you want to lend your voice to help accomplish fundamental fairness in radio today?

Add your name, tell a friend, and  contact:

Doyle C Bartlett
Executive Director of the musicFIRST coalition
Bartlett, Bendall & Kadesh LLC.
1101 16th Street NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
202-457-0926 Office
202-457-0929 Fax