Phase one of that war will certainly be with Congress, thanks to new legislation introduced Wednesday by Congressman Darrell Issa (pictured) (R-Calif.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.). The bill, if passed into law, gives artists the right to pull their music from your radio stations if they decide that all that free promotion just isn’t enough to help them move product and fill concert venues. They’ve even come up with a cute name for the bill: H.R 1914 is called “PROMOTE,” which stands for Performance Royalty Owners of Music Opportunity To Earn Act.
If this bill passes, radio will surely see which artists really appreciate what radio does for them, or simply want a piece of your revenue. And, we would also see which radio stations, or those radio companies with scale, decide to dump artists that have their hands out. Both iHeartMedia and Cumulus declined to comment for this story.
How many times have we heard artists say, “I remember exactly where I was when I heard my first song on the radio.” Or, “The goal is always to have your songs played on the radio.” Here’s UMG Nashville Chairman and CEO Mike Dungan from our February cover story interview: “Radio is key. It’s still the biggest driver that we have in our business and for our business. Things have changed; it’s not the only driver now, but it’s still the quickest way to connect the lines and connect the dots between A and B.” Here’s Vince Gill from the 2017 Country Radio Seminar, “The first time I heard myself on the radio was 43 years ago, it gave me hope.”
Congressman Issa said this bill calls the bluff of both sides in the debate over performance rights. “The terrestrial stations playing these works without compensating the artists argue that airtime provides exposure and promotional value, while the artists argue the status quo allows radio stations to profit on artists’ performances without providing any due compensation. Our bill puts forward a workable solution that would allow those who would otherwise be paid a performance right to opt out of allowing broadcasters to play their music if they feel they’re not being appropriately compensated. This is a win-win that helps solve this decades’ long problem in a way that’s fair to both parties.”
While the NAB has been working for you to promote its “Local Radio Freedom Act,” popping out press releases every week about new names being added (200 members of Congress now support), it has not been introduced as a bill. We reached out to the NAB Wednesday night to find out why and await an official comment on that specific question.
“PROMOTE Bill co-sponsor Congressman Deutch added the following quote: “We have been told for years that AM/FM radio provides valuable promotion to recording artists, but those artists have never been given the opportunity to decide for themselves. It should be the artist’s choice whether to offer their music for free in exchange for promotional play, or to instead opt out of the unpaid use of their music. I am proud to join my colleague Rep. Issa in introducing the PROMOTE Act to give recording artists more control over their work.”
Read the full text of the bill HERE
As long as there is a methodology where I will be paid by the artist every time I share on social media or hit thumbs up/down I think it’s a great idea.
Listen fellas, grow a pair and debate with facts and stop whimpering, for Christ’s sake.
Where is the pic of the democrat sponsor?
If you look at the tone of your article, it’s obvious that radio has an agenda just like everybody else. Don’t play the babe in the woods and get all snotty doing it. Radio wants as much of the pie as they can get. And give us all a break with this “free promotion” nonsense. You make it sound like all those poor little radio corporations are in this out of the goodness of their hearts. They really just want to help. Of course, if tomorrow the sound of passing gas was the biggest thing since Elvis, they’d dump the other artists in a second. And think about this: Radio is about selling audiences to advertisers. That’s it. That’s all. Anyone who says otherwise if full of it or living in fairyland. Without advertising the whole carnival shuts down tomorrow. And how does radio GET those juicy, PAYING advertisers? Largely due to musical artists. But you’re doing them a favor… free promotion out of the goodness of your hearts. NO. If you weren’t getting income off their backs, THEN it would be a favor. If you play the money game, you’ve got to take the losses with the wins. In a capitalist economy, the artists are within their rights to get a cut or pull up stakes. RadioInk is a decent pub, but don’t treat us like morons who don’t grasp the very basic fundamentals of capitalism. Some of us listened in school.
Here’s an idea. Let’s have the artists pay radio stations to play (promote) their music. No wait – we can’t do that.
Ok. Then set the price and charge them. See how long radio lasts. Not gonna happen. Not in this millennium.
I can guarantee if this bill passed, music piracy will skyrocket. Just saying….
You can guarantee that. Cool. Manny the Mind Reader. I think radio should worry about its own piracy issues, don’t you?
why be an ass to Manny?
What, are you his nanny? Christ. Harden up, kids.
Giving the performer veto power over what public domain music is aired by radio stations is like saying the Actor has the right to limit the performance of a screenplay because they mouthed the words. It is wrong, bad for composers and will not fix the REAL problem. It’s harder to sell your music on the open market. Deal with it without having to bring in the heavy hand of government. Performers can opt out of the music business anytime they want. Hey Cong. Issa whatever happened to free enterprise in the marketplace??
Your analogy doesn’t work. Try again.
Who appointed you the authority on this issue?
I made points. Answer the points. It’s simple. There you go, son.
I think his analogy is dead on, I think your summation is off ” And how does radio GET those juicy, PAYING advertisers? Largely due to musical artists” My News Talk does just fine without the musical artist, my sports station is doing just great and I can hear the same Taylor Swift song on 15 stations in the market place, I choose the one that has the best local DJ and talks about local issues that are important to me. But then again radio is just my agenda.
My revenue comes from local news, farm news, high school sports..not the music.