
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is taking aim at radio again, now calling on the FCC to outlaw free artist performances tied to stations. In a letter to newly appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Blackburn says these concerts – often for charity – constitute payola.
Blackburn asserts that radio stations are engaging in a “quid pro quo” scheme by offering more airplay to artists who agree to participate in free station-sponsored concerts. She argues that this constitutes an indirect form of payola and urges the FCC to take action against what she describes as an “exploitative” practice.
The senator’s claim that artists are being “extorted into providing free labor” is in contrast with how these free concerts are more often philanthropic or branding-related efforts than a direct revenue stream for stations. Each year, AM/FM and artists use these concerts to raise millions of dollars for causes including disaster relief, children’s hospitals, and suicide prevention.
Blackburn’s letter comes as the senator reintroduces her American Music Fairness Act legislation to Congress, which seeks to impose additional performance fees on local radio broadcasters. AMFA, which has failed to gain traction in two previous Congresses, would require traditional AM and FM broadcasters to pay royalties on par with streaming services, which do not provide a free, public service like radio.
AMFA is supported by organizations like SoundExchange, which charges a 4.6% “administrative fee” for all artists it collects for and stands to gain tens of millions more if the legislation is enacted.
However, there remains a large amount of bipartisan support for the Local Radio Freedom Act, a non-binding resolution that asserts that Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charges on local radio stations. The Act’s last iteration gained 226 co-sponsors in the House and 24 in the Senate – far more than AMFA.
Ah! The old “Administrative Fee” thing.
Like I find every time I pay a bill….another company is now handling “administrative fees”, that I have to pay extra for. Buy a burger, get hit with a “Property Beautification Fee” disguised as a tax, which the restaurant has to add to your bill.
Pay your kids school lunch tab, and a company in cyberspace adds $3.50 to their thirty-five cent dish of chicken nuggets, and bills your card.
No wonder people are fed up .
Now, we’ll have even less reason to listen to radio.
I do not support the AMFA at all, but calling it a “tax” is not accurate and should be avoided in a news article, unless you don’t mind showing bias. Paying royalties to performers is not a tax, as a tax would go to the government. Leave your biased language out of stories like these, unless you really don’t want to have any credibility.
That being said, the AMFA is a bad idea. Artists still get promotional benefit out of having radio stations play their music. In fact, if Blackburn’s point is valid and artists play the free concerts in exchange for more radio airplay, it really torpedoes the idea that getting music played on stations isn’t valuable for promotion of the song/artists.
If this STUPID AMFA Act becomes law, it could force many music radio stations to flip to a News/Talk format, consisting of mainly syndicated shows, which are based mostly out of New York, or even worse, to shut down completely. It would also force many local radio personalities out of work and furthermore, could pave the way for shock talkers such as Howard Stern or Mancow to return to Broadcast radio.