WCLV Takes Performance Rights Fight To Its Listeners

Robert Conrad

SALEM Classical WCLV/CLEVELAND Pres. ROBERT CONRAD has taken the fight against the Performance Rights Fee to the station website, with a letter encouraging listeners to write the government representatives. Wrote CONRAD:

The House Judiciary Committee recently held hearings on the so-called "Performance Rights Act" (H.R. 848), otherwise known as the "Performance Tax."

If enacted, this bill would require WCLV and other broadcasters to pay sound recording royalties on all recorded music. This would be in addition to the royalty payments we already pay to composers and publishers, as well as to record companies, whom we pay for the right to stream our music on the Internet.

For many decades, the law has recognized that record labels, artists, and local radio stations have a symbiotic relationship. Radio airplay generates billions of dollars in music sales. Artists benefit by selling CDs, concert tickets, and other merchandise. Radio stations like WCLV introduce the work of musicians working in many different genres to over 235 million people per week. The proposed Performance Tax ignores these simple facts. It would transfer massive amounts of money from WCLV and other stations to large record companies, most of which are foreign owned.

Moreover, the financial impact of the Performance Tax could be devastating, especially at a time when the advertising that supports WCLV and its classical music programming is at an all-time low due to the recession.

Therefore, we ask that you write or e-mail your United States representative in support of an opposing resolution -- the "Local Radio Freedom Act" (H. Con. Res. 49). A sample letter is given below.

« see more Net News