Stevie Wonder is in a unique position to talk about the Performing Rights Organization controversy radio is now dealing with. Not only is Wonder a successful songwriter and performer, he’s a successful independent radio station owner. He’s owned KJLH, licensed to Compton, California, for nearly 40 years.
In an op-ed in Billboard, Wonder says all the work his station does to be a meaningful member of the community is threatened if he cannot stay in business. And his concern about staying afloat has everything to do with radio’s battle with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC,and now GMR.
Wonder writes that what is happening to independent station owners like his is that they are facing higher costs to play the music their audience wants to hear, but with no decent explanation of the how and why these higher costs are justified. “We have societies that lose significant artists to other societies but make no adjustment in the fees they charge to stations for their remaining roster. It almost feels like we are paying for the same thing twice. I believe strongly that businesses that make a living from the creativity of artists — whether it be music, TV, film or theater — must fairly and adequately pay those artists for the right to use their art. And that goes for radio station owners like me.”
Wonder says the system the PROs have set up is not fair and it is not open. “I don’t have the clout or the leverage as a station owner that the big networks of stations do, and I don’t have their audience size, yet I am subject to the same allocated costs as they are. We have two societies that exist under consent decrees by the U.S. Department of Justice, while the other two are profit-generating enterprises, with obviously different agendas. We have chaos, unfairness, and inequity.”
Wonder says he’s not suggesting any of these organizations fold, he is concerned that what is going on now will simply lead to even less fairness and equality among broadcasters that can’t afford ever-increasing costs. He wonders whether there will be even more PROs popping up. “How many licenses will we need to get? And how will we be able to track when artists jump from one PRO to another? Will we wind up paying for the same thing twice, or even three times? How can any business run that way?”
His suggestion is that everyone in the creative community come together, “stations and artists, and we should be able to find ways to recognize the vital role we play in each other’s lives to everyone’s mutual benefit. But there needs to be give and take. Let us all find a way to create a better system that takes away the need for any of us to be unhappy. Let us work together to get this thing right.”
Read the entire article in Billboard HERE
