Wants broadcasters to begin paying royalties like everyone else.
The music industry is getting increasingly desperate these days. Proof lies in the fact that it’s ramped up its efforts to get terrestrial radio broadcasters to pay the same amount in royalties that their brethren do on internet and satellite radio.
For radio has long enjoyed an odd exception under federal copyright law that requires it only to compensate songwriters and publishers, but not the musicians themselves. After going after mothers, children , disabled veterans, and even the deceased, I guess it was only a matter of time before its lawyers sought ought fresh targets.
With the latest revenue target in mind, a group called musicFirst, representing the recording industry, recently sent the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) a can of herring, a dictionary, and some free digital songs in an attempt to mock the group and highlight its fight to make them pay an equal amount in royalties as everyone else.
“It’s a form of piracy, if you will, but not in the classic sense as we think of it,” said Martin Machowsky, a musicFirst spokesman. “Today we gifted them a can of herring, about their argument that they provide promotional value. We think that’s a red herring. Nobody listens to the radio for the commercials.”
What’s particularly funny in all of this is that seems to be a case of reverse payola and shows just how out of touch the music industry is these days. It used to pay radio stations to get bands some exposure and now it wants to make them pay to expose their bands?
Oh my has the recording industry lost its mind.
Related
- Radio Fights Back, Calls Artist Royalties an ‘RIAA Tax’
- RIAA vs. Public Radio – Performance Rights Act Moves Ahead
- Traditional radio stations have to pay royalties for Net streaming
- Tired of students and grandmothers, the RIAA now going after radio
- Guy from the RIAA Chimes In About Lawsuit Against XM Satellite Radio
I’ll have what they are smoking
Crack Rocks
Sure make it so radio has to pay royalties. But do it differently make it so bands can opt out of being paid. That way people who want exposure can get air time while the RIAA fades to black. The way internet radio has to pay royalties to any band they play is ridiculous government basically mandated the RIAA’s business model on everyone. Many and like thousands of independent artist would love to get radio exposure without compense and they would get it if this law passed with such an allowance. Sadly the lobbiest know this and won’t allow it to ever happen too bad I thought the western world was supposed to be about open markets.
Free market if you have the money to pay for it instead of cult of personality it’s a cult of greed and human stupidity coupled together make a very bad combination if not properly monitored.
When the pendulum swings back at them they frivolously attempt to stem the tide by destroying everything that made them in the beginning the fans and the music I make no claim at being a major music consumer but at the same time they think they’re a government unto themselves and deserve to throw unbidden yokes upon the people who simply want to hear a good ditty or two.
Ok enough of this philosophizing their time has come and like all dying beasts they struggle for their last breaths just like we all will if this shocks you get ready because they’ll try to be as heavy handed as possible to support the beast before they can no longer do so and the common people will be whom they blame for their own actions in alienating the fans and abusing their musicians.
Isn’t radio traditionally the #1 promotional tool of new music from the big labels?! If radio helps drive sales of new music (or old music) do the labels really need to be paid again? I think not!
Making radio pay royalties will make radio not want to play music and will probably eventually kill radio altogether.
Reason #6821 why the RIAA needs to be removed from the equation entirely. All mainstream bands should drop their labels and go indy with purely digital distribution at a *fair* price. The RIAA isn’t protecting anyone from copyright infringement. People want what they want and if you screw them long enough they’ll just screw you right back. As for music videos… who the hell watches videos these days let alone knows of a station that actually plays them? Oh wait MTV has a whole 15 minute block of music before the 23 1/2 hours of “reality” TV. Radio stations should be encouraged to play *any* track *without royalties* from a band’s new album not just the same damn cookie-cutter “hit” over and over again. It’s time to kiss the $18 CD goodbye forever along with RIAA big wigs that actually haven’t enjoyed music (let alone sex) since 1964.
Ok I’m done.
lmao i love the title of this article…yup it’s really official this time 
are any of you folks actually in radio? just curious. are any of you actually working (as in earning a living) professional musicians? again, just curious. I am and have been both … can see both sides of the debate … and wish for the entire performance royalty issue revisited in a different light. Currently, terrestrial radio pays both the publisher/songwriter royalty and the performer royalty if they stream online. Currently, independent musicians can earn their performance royalty if they sign up to be compensated w/ SoundExhange. However, unless an “indie” is registered with ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, they will not receive a songwriter royalty. It’s an interesting issue, one that I research daily it seems.