Radio Royalties Fight Heats Up In Washington

Radio Royalties Fight Heats Up In Washington


WASHINGTON -- One of the biggest lobbying fights in the nation's capital this year could involve a traditionally non-Washington subject: rock and roll.

At issue: whether AM and FM radio stations should pay royalties to performers on recorded music played over the airwaves, and if so, what those rates should be. Right now only composers and their affiliated publishers reap these payments.

In one corner is the MusicFIRST Coalition, which includes the Recording Industry Association of America, several artist groups and SoundExchange, the folks who collect licensing fees from satellite and Internet radio stations and distribute it in the form of royalty payments to musicians. They say it's not fair that session musicians and others who play or sing on records played on the radio should be denied compensation.

The bill that is causing all this trouble was sponsored by Mr. Sellout himself, Senator Patrick Leahy.

It's time for Senator Leahy's sellout ass to be removed from office. Consider this a rally cry. Senator Leahy is obviously the personally owned bitch of the RIAA and their associated record labels. It's time for his owned ass to be removed from office.

There was a time when Music on the radio was king but those days are long gone along with the nations taste in music with RAP and the like, which is less music and more bad poetry do to a beat.

This proposal will do nothing for radio and help to drive the use of the internet as a source of commercial free music listening.

Talk radio is where it's at in radio right now, not music. I'm sure Country Music is still big in places but with tiny little recording devices that can hold thousands of tunes this is a stupid idea but then the performers are not known for their brains, mostly for the lack there of.