Posted on 08/23/2010 2:17:42 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
...a framework of a deal in which stations would pay a total of about $100 million a year in performance fees.
...The association’s outline suggests that the largest stations pay a performance fee of 1 percent of net revenue, and smaller stations a lower rate or none at all. While labels and musicians have long sought performance fees, broadcasters have argued that the stations provide important promotion for artists, and that a fee might put small stations out of business.
...it would still need Congressional approval.
...Last year, after the both the House and Senate judiciary committees approved bills that would require performance fees for broadcast radio, lawmakers asked the two sides to work out a deal themselves....
Laws passed in the 1990s require fees to be paid for online radio. Last year, SoundExchange, the organization that collects performance fees, brought in more than $180 million. The money is generally split between the copyright holder, often a record label, and the artist....
The record industry would welcome any additional income, as revenue from recorded music has been cut almost in half over the last 10 years.
...Stations fear that Congress could eventually require higher fees than they are proposing.
...The framework released by the broadcasters calls for a federal mandate that every cellphone sold in the United States include a chip to allow FM radio reception — a “critically important” part of the plan... Having radio available in all cellphones could help broadcasters compete with online streaming services like Pandora...
...the cellphone industry has expressed serious concerns, saying that it could make phones bulkier and shorten battery life....
The music labels would like to put something in front of lawmakers shortly after Labor Day, in hopes that something could be passed before the end of the current Congress....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Music PING
Big Media wants this passed before the Rats are tossed out of Congress.
Some business are just trying to fail...
I suggest that to avoid the tax all radio stations immediately stop playing music and serve up conservative talk radio instead.
Before Rush Limbaugh - AM radio was dead dead and gone. I bet station owners could not give stations away. There was local talk but AM was on the way out.
Today - AM radios stations, at least Big Rush stations, are gold.
Satellite Radio, XM/Sirius already pays...
Radio stations should charge artists for the advertisement of their music.
You will notice that this is "save FM" and most conservative talk radio is AM, is profitable, plays music and doesn't need saving.
The lefties, their entertainment and artistry are truly worthless and that's what people will pay in a free market.
Songwriters and music publishers have been paid for years by radio through BMI and ASCAP, why not the artists? Under current law if John Doe writes a song and a hit record of it is made by Joe Blow then John gets paid everytime its played on the radio, but Joe doesnt. If you are Joe and you made the hit record then this is important to you.
I sometimes do book signings at science fiction conventions. I'm often scheduled alongside Media actors (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.). The Media people get paid for their autographs. I don't. I got my royalty when the person seeking the autograph bought the book. The Media actor doesn't' have anything equivalent to a book sale, so they deserve payment for an autograph (granted, they do get residuals on re-runs). I'd say if a musician autographs a record cover, he/she's in the same position as a Media actor: charge for the autograph. When their record is played over the air, they're in the same position I am: they already got their royalties.
Listening to a custom radio station on Pandora that only plays stuff I like. Super high quality audio.
Advertisements are at a minimum. I pay nothing.
Welcome to the future.
....radio stations should charge to play records...
Why? Its free programming. Most do anyway. Ever hear of payola. It never went away. I was in the music business for forty years. Few on this site, through no fault of their own, have the slightest conception of how the music business works and how artists are paid and not paid.
Are the Democrats pushing this so that they can earn some money when they sing the blues come the next election. < /s>
I, therefore, predict it will be completely ignored on this thread (especially by the opposition).
That’s the way they used to do it. Look up ‘Payola’, and Alan Freed.
“Satellite Radio, XM/Sirius already pays...”
This is kinda funny in a way. When the Digital Millennium whatever the name of that act is came along, Internet Radio, Sirius/XM and other digital sources had to pay this additional fee to the artists. One would have to feel pretty certain that radio broadcasters were firmly in favor of this, because it added an extra burden to their up and coming competitors. Funny if they now have to pay it, too. And there’s not much argument to be made for radio being free advertising for the artists, since radio is so limited, and rarely plays anything that isn’t already wildly successful.
What is this "radio" of which you speak??
Pandora is great. I’ve been a paying subscriber for the last year and a half. It’s worth it to me. Nothing but back to back music all day long, without commercial interruptions. Plus, I’ve bought more CD’s in the last year as a direct result of listening to Pandora, than I have in the previous 10 years.
Pandora is why Big Media is demanding this of the legislators they purchased.
Big Media’s control on public taste (and the “hitmakers”) is waning.
Follow the money.
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