Media Institute opposes Performance Rights Act
Posted on 04. Feb, 2010 in News
The Media Institute, a non-profit foundation dedicated to researching the effects of communication policy issues, opposes the Performance Rights Act. The institute’s latest report titled “Performance Fees on Radio Stations: A Debacle Waiting To Happen,” details the effects of the proposed law and how it would specifically damage minority-owned and local broadcasters. FMQB reports:
Black and Hispanic stations would bear the brunt of compulsory performance fees for sound recordings, and the loss of such stations would be particularly acute for Black and Hispanic communities where local radio stations are “a primary venue for the expression of minority and ethnic viewpoints,” the paper states.
The report concludes that the Performance Rights Act…
“would most likely reduce diversity, and thus run contrary to Congress’s long-standing goal of enhancing media diversity. The economic and diversity impacts would be especially harsh on minority-owned radio stations, the outlets least able to tolerate additional burdens. Record companies should not try to kill the ‘golden goose’ of radio broadcasting in an effort to boost their bottom lines. Free music for free airplay has stood the test of time. It’s an arrangement that is not broken, and does not need to be fixed.”
Newberry: “They’re running out of money”
Posted on 10. Oct, 2009 in News
Record companies are fighting for a performance tax on radio broadcasters because they’re “running out of money,” says National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Chairman Steve Newberry in USA Today. ”When you start with that basis, it’s very difficult to engage in good-faith negotiations.”
“If a large station is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in fees, they’re going to play the performers who are most proven to get a return on investment,” says Newberry, CEO of Commonwealth Broadcasting Corp.
Radio stations currently pay about $550 million a year to music licensing agencies that represent songwriters and music publishers. They also paid $25.2 million last year in regulatory fees to the Federal Communications Commission.
Source: USA Today
