Following on the heels of
the introduction of a Senate resolution opposing the adoption of a performance right for AM/FM airplay, a companion resolution was introduced in the House on Tuesday. The proposed Local Radio Freedom Act came with bipartisan support with Reps. Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Steve Womack (R-AR) as principal cosponsors. The resolution also includes the names of 75 other House members.
The language of the Local Radio Freedom Act mirrors the previous version by explicitly recognizing the “mutually beneficial relationship” between local radio and the recording industry, including the “free publicity and promotion” that performers receive and use to sell music and concert tickets. It also says that changing the law to create a new performance right for AM/FM would lead to thousands of local radio stations suffering “severe economic hardship” if any new fee is imposed. And rather than shy away from the fact that the resolution is not a new idea, it embraces its legacy. “For nearly a century, Congress has rejected repeated calls by the recording industry to impose a performance fee on local radio stations for simply playing music on the radio,” it says.
