David Byrne Urges Radio to Pay Artists For Airplay

[Barry]

The lead singer of the rock group Talking Heads wrote an opinion piece in USA Today. It states that the U.S. is just about the only country where radio owners do not pay musicians when they are played on the air.

An Injustice?

 

[TheBigA]

The lead singer of the rock group Talking Heads wrote an opinion piece in USA Today. It states that the U.S. is just about the only country where radio owners do not pay musicians when they are played on the air.

An Injustice?

He's right. Why didn't record labels seek this royalty in the 1930s when everyone else did? Maybe Byrne should look into that.

The US is also the only country where radio stations are forbidden to accept money from labels for airplay. Repeal payola laws!

The issue here isn't the royalty, but how it should be administered. Most radio companies would pay it, if it came with a discount on digital royalties, as is the case with the publishers royalty. But the record labels refuse to discuss or negotiate. That's the real injustice. They could have had this royalty ten years ago if they had just negotiated.

The fact of the matter is that radio stations pay all songwriters, and a lot of the artists mentioned in Byrne's article are also songwriters. Radio also pays artists and labels when their music is streamed. One of the biggest payers to SoundExchange is iHeartRadio. He attacks ''big broadcasters'' but they all pay SoundExchange.

 

[Kelly A]

I recall hearing an interview with Byrne, where he mentioned that like most groups/artists of the day, their rise to fame didn't occur until radio started playing their music.
Guess he forgot those days.

 

[tbolt909]

I recall hearing an interview with Byrne, where he mentioned that like most groups/artists of the day, their rise to fame didn't occur until radio started playing their music.
Guess he forgot those days.

That's not true all the time. Radio never played Bob Dylan. They only played artists that covered Dylan songs like the Byrds. Later, Dylan started getting some airplay.

I don't recall Talking Heads getting a lot of airplay except on certain progressive FM formats. "Burning Down The House" was their only "hit" in America; getting into the Top 10. They got more exposure on MTV than Radio and they were an Album Track band anyway...

 

[TheBigA]

That's not true all the time. Radio never played Bob Dylan.

Wow, that's a sweeping generalization. He was primarily a folkie who made music for a small audience. He was more popular in England than the US. His own fans boo'd and attacked him when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. And there's no question that the Top 40 airplay he received from Like a Rolling Stone helped him sell records and move to larger venues.

Radio airplay isn't a right. It's a privilege. It's a choice made by others to play your music. This wasn't a problem until the two major record labels in the US were bought by foreign companies in 1988. From that point on, those labels have been trying to destroy the special relationship that existed between radio & records for their own corporate greed. They've co-opted the good will of some artists to fight their battle because they know how bad it would look if they did it themselves.

What people need to ask is why the recording industry refuses to negotiate. Congress can see this is a money grab. They want the two sides to come to a resolution, and bring them a bill both sides can live with. Until that happens, there will be no progress.

 

[tbolt909]

Radio airplay isn't a right. It's a privilege. It's a choice made by others to play your music. This wasn't a problem until the two major record labels in the US were bought by foreign companies in 1988. From that point on, those labels have been trying to destroy the special relationship that existed between radio & records for their own corporate greed. They've co-opted the good will of some artists to fight their battle because they know how bad it would look if they did it themselves.

What people need to ask is why the recording industry refuses to negotiate. Congress can see this is a money grab. They want the two sides to come to a resolution, and bring them a bill both sides can live with. Until that happens, there will be no progress.

Artists deserve to be paid. There is a generation of people who think music should be free. Napster was one moment in time. Now you have AI replicating the music of artists. It's also happening in the film industry.

Radio was only interested in generating ratings & revenue for themselves. Fair enough. That doesn't change the fact that artists should be paid for work they create and perform...

 

[TheBigA]

Artists deserve to be paid.

The artist contract is with the record label, not with radio. They get paid by the label. They also get paid for streaming by SoundExchange. Radio pays SoundExchange when they stream their signal. They also get paid for songwriting. Radio pays ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR. How many times do they get paid for the same song and recording? All of this has been spelled out in contracts. They know what the deal is. This isn't a big surprise.

As I said, the real issue isn't paying artists. The group that paid David Byrne for this opinion is MusicFirst, owned by the RIAA. The labels want to get paid. But federal payola laws say that money can't be exchanged between radio & records without disclosure. So you'd end up with radio stations being required to announce every song as being paid for. That's just the beginning. The royalty that Byrne is talking about wouldn't just go to artists. The majority of the money would go to labels. But it's for labels, artists, and session musicians.

 

[Kelly A]

That's not true all the time. Radio never played Bob Dylan. They only played artists that covered Dylan songs like the Byrds. Later, Dylan started getting some airplay.

Radio never played Bob Dylan? What were you listening to back in the day? Oh, that's right, do wop...

I don't recall Talking Heads getting a lot of airplay except on certain progressive FM formats. "Burning Down The House" was their only "hit" in America; getting into the Top 10.

AOR and 'New Wave' stations, primarily on FM were playing Talking Heads long before Burning Down The House. I suppose if one primarily still were listening to AM stations back then, they would come to your conclusion too.

 

[TheBigA]

AOR and 'New Wave' stations, primarily on FM were playing Talking Heads long before Burning Down The House.

Correct, as well as college radio. Unfortunately, none of it shows up in the commercially available Billboard charts, and that's the easiest source for measuring airplay. If you have the time to look through back issues of R&R, you'll see they got airplay as early as 1977.

 

[tbolt909]

Radio never played Bob Dylan? What were you listening to back in the day? Oh, that's right, do wop...

AOR and 'New Wave' stations, primarily on FM were playing Talking Heads long before Burning Down The House. I suppose if one primarily still were listening to AM stations back then, they would come to your conclusion too.

You are misunderstanding. Radio didn't introduce Bob Dylan to the masses. The Beatles were being influenced by him (Norwegian Wood and You've Got To Hide Your Love Away are good examples) long before Radio ever played a Dylan recording. Other artists covering Dylan songs got on Radio playlists first.

I am well aware that some FM stations played Talking Heads when their songs were new. I was there. The point is that those examples were not the norm at that time...

 

[TheBigA]

You are misunderstanding. Radio didn't introduce Bob Dylan to the masses.

Actually they did. As I said, he was primarily a folk artist like Joan Baez until 1965. Then he went electric and everyone knew him.

There was a calculated reason why he went electric. That wasn't an accident. Same with Simon & Garfunkel, on the same record label.

Tom Wilson produced both artists at the time. Sounds of Silence came first. Then he did the same thing with Dylan in the same studio.

BTW Dylan never appeared on the Ed Sullivan show.

 

[tbolt909]

There was a calculated reason why he went electric. That wasn't an accident. Same with Simon & Garfunkel, on the same record label.

Tom Wilson produced both artists at the time. Sounds of Silence came first. Then he did the same thing with Dylan in the same studio.

The "calculated" reason Dylan went electric quite possibly was musical exploration. It had nothing to do with Radio.
Great artists weave in and out of different genres. Some Jazz fans didn't like when Miles Davis released groundbreaking records like IN A SILENT WAY and BITCHES BREW. Same as the folks who booed Dylan.
Some people have rigid thinking.

A better example for your point would be Chicago. They went from being a highly creative group, but Peter Cetera pushed them into Radio friendly lightweight Pop...

 

[TheBigA]

The "calculated" reason Dylan went electric quite possibly was musical exploration. It had nothing to do with Radio.

You're completely wrong about that. Tom Wilson worked for Columbia, not Dylan. Tom was told to get a hit record out of Dylan. He did his job.

In those days, getting a hit meant getting a Top 40 single. He did it with Simon & Garfunkel, and then did it again with Dylan.

Clive Davis wrote about it in his first book. He was at Columbia at the time. You really should read Clive's book.

Regarding Chicago, their producer was James William Guercio. He also produced the second album for Blood Sweat & Tears. The one with all the radio hits on it. He did the first CTA album at the same time as BST2. James knew how to create hit songs and he personally did the edits on those early Chicago songs for radio airplay. All of the success at Columbia was about getting radio hits. Their radio promotion staff was the best in the industry.

 

[davideduardo]

He's right. Why didn't record labels seek this royalty in the 1930s when everyone else did? Maybe Byrne should look into that.

In a large number of countries where I have worked in Latin America there is no artist performance royalty. Byrne is wrong in saying that the USA is unique.

The US is also the only country where radio stations are forbidden to accept money from labels for airplay. Repeal payola laws!

We are allowed to accept money from labels. We just have to be sure there is "Sponsor ID".

The issue here isn't the royalty, but how it should be administered. Most radio companies would pay it, if it came with a discount on digital royalties, as is the case with the publishers royalty. But the record labels refuse to discuss or negotiate. That's the real injustice. They could have had this royalty ten years ago if they had just negotiated.

What they have tried to do is win over the small market majority by offering a low flat rate, while gouging the bigger market stations with fees that, today, are often as high as station profit margins.

The fact of the matter is that radio stations pay all songwriters, and a lot of the artists mentioned in Byrne's article are also songwriters. Radio also pays artists and labels when their music is streamed. One of the biggest payers to SoundExchange is iHeartRadio. He attacks ''big broadcasters'' but they all pay SoundExchange.

Often these are artist who have absorbed only the surface of the label talking points. They don't see that the label gets much of the money, and that radio is a free promotional vehicle for them. They have been told they are being robbed by the rich radio stations and they want some money... hey, that sounds like a song theme!

 

[davideduardo]

Correct, as well as college radio. Unfortunately, none of it shows up in the commercially available Billboard charts, and that's the easiest source for measuring airplay. If you have the time to look through back issues of R&R, you'll see they got airplay as early as 1977.

Billboard: BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: American music magazine 1894 to Today

... and all the issues are searchable, both individually and by year, decade and full collection.

 

[davideduardo]

Correct, as well as college radio. Unfortunately, none of it shows up in the commercially available Billboard charts, and that's the easiest source for measuring airplay. If you have the time to look through back issues of R&R, you'll see they got airplay as early as 1977.

But the college station play was well documented in CMJ

CMJ NEW MUSIC REPORT: College Station Music Tip Sheet

The CMJ New Music Report began in 1982 as a continuation of the College Media Journal, founded in 1978 by Robert Haber and targeting college radio programmers.

www.worldradiohistory.com

And there are a variety of album rock reports like

FMQB: music and radio industry music tipsheet and newsletter

FMQB: Radio station "tip sheet" showing airplay activity Published by Kal Rudman starting in the 70s. Contains many ads from record companies promoting new releases.

www.worldradiohistory.com

And

WALRUS! US Music and Radio Tip Sheet from 1969 to early '80s

Walrus! (with an exclamation point) was a rock music radio "tip sheet" publications issued from 1969 to the early 80's

www.worldradiohistory.com

HARD REPORT: music and radio industry music tipsheet and newsletter

Radio station "tip sheet" showing airplay activity in the areas of rock and AAA formats. Published by Bill Hard starting in 1986.

www.worldradiohistory.com

And the rock version of Billboard Airplay Monitor

AIRPLAY MONITOR: Billboard's 1993-2005 monitor of radio station airplay

Airplay Monitor was created by its parent, Billboard Magazine, in 1993 to provide a view of radio's airplay of songs. It covered four formats (rock, Top 40, Country and R&B) and the derivatives of each. The magazine had both a multi-format edition and also issued format specific versions. In...

www.worldradiohistory.com

 

[TheBigA]

What they have tried to do is win over the small market majority by offering a low flat rate, while gouging the bigger market stations with fees that, today, are often as high as station profit margins.

The problem with their offer to the small markets is the small markets get absolutely no service or support from the labels, while the big market stations get lots of promotional goodies such as concert ticket giveaways and radio concerts. Quite often the small markets are forced to buy the music they play from music services. The small markets also know that the ''low flat rate'' is just for the first year. After that, the royalty rate is subject to the rule of the Copyright Royalty Board, who can increase the rate every three years. That's what they've done with the digital royalty. I think if the RIAA exempted the small markets completely, all the big radio companies would agree to a negotiated royalty. But the labels refuse to negotiate.

 

[TheBigA]

But the college station play was well documented in CMJ

Correct, but people have to be willing to do the work and dig through the old issues. It's not as easy as going to Billboard.com.

 

[tbolt909]

You're completely wrong about that. Tom Wilson worked for Columbia, not Dylan. Tom was told to get a hit record out of Dylan. He did his job.

In those days, getting a hit meant getting a Top 40 single. He did it with Simon & Garfunkel, and then did it again with Dylan.

Clive Davis wrote about it in his first book. He was at Columbia at the time. You really should read Clive's book.

Regarding Chicago, their producer was James William Guercio. He also produced the second album for Blood Sweat & Tears. The one with all the radio hits on it. He did the first CTA album at the same time as BST2. James knew how to create hit songs and he personally did the edits on those early Chicago songs for radio airplay. All of the success at Columbia was about getting radio hits. Their radio promotion staff was the best in the industry.

Tom Wilson didn't write "Like A Rolling Stone" if that's the hit you're talking about. Columbia Records wasn't happy with it at all when they first heard it...

 

[TheBigA]

Tom Wilson didn't write "Like A Rolling Stone" if that's the hit you're talking about. Columbia Records wasn't happy with it at all when they first heard it...

As I said before, Tom Wilson was the producer of the record. He hired all the musicians, oversaw the arrangement, and oversaw the final mix of the song that was presented to the label. In fact, Al Kooper, who played organ on the session, was only there as a friend of Tom. The concern the label had was that it was 6 minutes long. But they tested the song among some radio listeners, and the reaction was good enough for release. Some stations faded out the song after the second chorus. I've heard airchecks from several radio stations that did that. The song peaked at #2 on Billboard and #1 on Cash Box. It was his first big hit, and the radio airplay brought his music to the attention of mass audiences.

Keep in mind that Dylan's label, Columbia, was owned by CBS. The purpose of releasing singles at that time was to gain radio airplay.