Headlines

On Thursday, we told you about the latest ploy by Congress to get radio to pay for songs it airs on music stations. Broadcast attorney David Oxenford did the industry an even bigger favor when, in his latest blog, he dug deeper into the bill to grind out the details about just how much it might cost you if the "PROMOTE" Bill was ever passed.

(by Ken Dardis) Please say this with me: It is not a tax that Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced to Congress this week. We got the the immediate, and expected, disapproval from the radio industry. 'It promotes artists.' 'Radio should charge for advertising the song.' 'Lost jobs.' 'Our station will go all talk.'

(Paul Rotella) Every Congress, a few well-meaning, but misinformed legislators appear to forget that they represent the people of their districts and not the foreign-owned record companies, and introduce, in one form or another, the toxic royalty fee legislation commonly known as the “Performance Tax.” It does no one any good at all, and helps stifle the creative growth and opportunities for success of emerging artists...

On the heels of a new piece of legislation introduced in Congress to slap a royalty tax on radio, the NAB ran this ad in The Hill on Thursday to promote radio. The NAB says the ad points out "the indispensable role of broadcast radio as a promotional vehicle for artists, and thanking the more than 180 Representatives and Senators cosponsoring the Local Radio Freedom Act."

Cumulus Media-Albuquerque's NEWSRADIO KKOB celebrated 95 years on the air with a big birthday bash this week. 800 listeners packed the New Mexico Natural History Museum to be a part of the celebration. The station signed on the air April 5, 1922, in Las Cruces, NM, moved to Albuquerque in 1932, and in 1941, went to 50,000 watts. Check out the history of the station in THIS VIDEO.

Phase one of that war will certainly be with Congress thanks to new legislation introduced Wednesday by Congressman Darrell Issa (pictured) and Rep. Ted Deutch. 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.

(Deborah Parenti) Having served as president of Univision Radio from 2010-2015, Jose Valle understands better than most the challenges and opportunities for those who lead the industry, especially those with whom the future of Hispanic radio lies. And it’s why we asked him to moderate this year’s Executive Leadership Roundtable at the Hispanic Radio Conference.

Yet another iteration of a perennial effort by the recording industry to impose a performance royalty on broadcasters is on the table and could be headed for a real vote soon. And as you can expect many of your colleagues are not happy about it, some are pretty irate. Here's what they had to say about the new "PROMOTE" bill introduced on Capitol Hill Wednesday

After the PROMOTE Bill was introduced on Wednesday, musicFIRST Executive Director Chris Israel said, "Music creators rightly expect to be fairly compensated for their work, regardless of whether their songs are played on satellite radio services like Sirius XM, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, or AM/FM radio. Unfortunately, this is not always the case."

The PRO announced Wednesday it delivered record-breaking revenues and distributions in 2016. ASCAP collected $1.059 billion and distributed more than $918 million to members. Distributions were up 5.6%. ASCAP did not say how much revenue was from U.S. radio stations, which would have been a nice little stat to know. Here's what the release did say...