SoundExchange Pres. Says Internet Fairness Act Is Unfair To Musicians

Michael Huppe

SOUNDEXCHANGE Pres. MICHAEL HUPPE says The Internet Fairness Act, sponsored in the House by Reps. JASON CHAFFETZ (R-UT), and JARED POLIS (D-CO), and in the Senate by RON WYDEN (D-OR) that would require that the COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD use the same standard for setting rates for paying performers as it does for satellite and radio would hurt musicians and record labels.

HUPPE was responding to PANDORA founder and Chief Strategy Officer TIM WESTERGREN (NET NEWS 10/10), who blogged that even lesser-known artists can make six-figure salaries from PANDORA alone. He wrote, "Have you heard of DONNIE MCCLURKIN, FRENCH MONTANA or GRUPO BRYNDIS? If you haven't you're not alone. They are artists whose sales ranks on AMAZON are 4,752, 17,000 and 183,187, respectively. These are all working artists who live well outside the mainstream -- no steady rotation on broadcast radio, no high-profile opening slots on major tours, no front page placement in online retail. What they also have in common is a steady income from PANDORA. In the next 12 months PANDORA is on track to pay performance fees of $100,228, $138,567 and $114,192, respectively, for the music we play to their large and fast-growing audiences on PANDORA. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. For over 2,000 artists, PANDORA will pay over $10,000 each over the next 12 months (including one of my favorites, the late jazz pianist OSCAR PETERSON), and for more than 800 we'll pay over $50,000, more than the income of the average American household. For top earners like COLDPLAY, ADELE, WIZ KHALIFA, JASON ALDEAN and others PANDORA is already paying over $1 million each. DRAKE and LIL WAYNE are fast approaching a $3 million annual rate each."

"We want PANDORA to succeed," HUPPE said in regards to the legislation. "We want them to grow and have a hugely successful business but we don’t believe artists should have to subsidize that business."

HUPPE told BLOOMBERG "online radio services pay 0.11 cent for each song they stream, with half going to a track's owner, 45% to the performers and 5% to background vocalists and musicians."

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