musicFIRST Responds To Latest Attempt In Congress To Pass The 'Local Radio Freedom Act'

Responds

As ALL ACCESS reported YESTERDAY (NET NEWS 1/24), another attempt to get the Local Radio Freedom Act passed on Capitol Hill is underway, as Reps. MICHAEL CONAWAY (R-TX) and GENE GREEN (D-TX) have reintroduced the bill exempting broadcast radio stations from performance royalties in Congress and Sens. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY) and HEIDI HEITKAMP (D-ND) have done the same in the Senate as S. Con. Res. 6. 

The bill reads, "Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station broadcast over the air."

musicFIRST Exec. Dir. CHRIS ISRAEL has quickly responded, saying, “It’s a new year, we have a new Congress and as of last week, a new Administration. Someone may want to tell the Big Radio lobby that 2017 represents change on all fronts in WASHINGTON, D.C.  They are rolling out the exact same non-binding resolution, defending the same government subsidy they have been protecting for decades. Crony capitalism and big government subsidies seem to be on their way out, but Big Radio is asking Congress to once again protect it from the free market -- a free market where every other music platform compensates artists for the music that drives their business. The musicFIRST coalition believes that Congress will see this resolution for what it is – a P.R. play by Big Radio – and instead tackle the injustices affecting our nation’s music creators.

“The last six Administrations of both parties have supported performance rights and fair pay for music creators. A new TRUMP Administration focused on American competitiveness and draining the swamp will find a great target in eliminating Big Radio’s decades-old subsidy. This combined with momentum on copyright reform and performance rights for music creators in Congress, creates a historic opportunity during the 115th Congress for the U.S. to finally update our copyright laws to treat music creators the same regardless of how consumers choose to listen to their work. It’s time for the U.S. to join every other industrialized nation and make Big Radio operate in a free market like all their competitors. Most importantly, it is finally time that AMERICA’s talented artists and musicians are rewarded for their work."

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