What the **** is this about???

[radiopimp]

The way I read this, I think these people want Radio to pay artists even MORE money directly.
Isn't that what we need? What about the thugs in BMI, ASCAP and SESAC? Where does that money go?
Nothing personal against Sam Moore, but if I played him, I would pull his music IMMEDIATELY!!

Judy Collins, Sam Moore Ask Congress for
Fair Performance Right on AM and FM Radio

“Radio built its business on our creativity, our passion and our soul, but we are not compensated,” Collins tells House Subcommittee

“How can it be fair, how can it be right that artists are not compensated?” Moore asks House Subcommittee

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 31, 2007 – Today, during a hearing in the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, GRAMMY® winners Judy Collins and Sam Moore testified on behalf of the musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today) Coalition about the importance of a fair performance right, which would pay artist a royalty when their music is broadcast on AM and FM radio.

“The issue here is simple, it’s about fairness,” said Judy Collins. “Radio is multibillion dollar industry built on our creativity, our passion and our soul which is part of every song aired on the radio. Every other music distribution platform – Internet, cable and satellite radio – recognizes what we bring to sound recordings. Terrestrial radio no longer has an excuse. It’s time to acknowledge the performer and treat us fairly.”

“If broadcasters shared any of the money they earn from playing my recordings, I'd be spending more time with my grandchildren,” said Sam Moore “I’m 71 years old and still touring to support myself and my family. A fair performance right would allow me to retire from a life on the road.”

During her testimony Collins discussed her song “Send in the Clowns” and the letter songwriter Stephen Sondheim wrote to her following its success. She also emphasized the need for an additional revenue stream.

“You may remember a little song that Stephen Sondheim wrote for the musical A Little Night Music entitled ‘Send in the Clowns’,” Collins told the subcommittee members. “I recorded the song in 1975 and shortly after release, the record became a top radio hit.”

“Unfortunately, I did not earn a cent from radio even though that song was played time and time again. On the other hand, Stephen Sondheim earned millions. He wrote me a thank you note…It read, ‘Judy, thank you for giving me my first hit song.’ It is a wonderful song. Stephen deserves to be compensated for his creativity. But I do, too; as do the thousands of artists who bring music to life on the radio…”

“This additional revenue stream would be tremendously helpful to artists – at every stage of their careers,” Collins said. “Broadcasters should not be able to continue to profit off recording artists’ creative talent without recognizing and rewarding that talent.”
-more-
Following Judy Collins, Sam Moore took the stage. He spoke about friends, the economic struggles following their fame, and how hard it was for them to know that radio was making money by playing their hits without fairly compensating them.

“I remember Mary Wells coming to my house after she was diagnosed with cancer. Mary brought so many great songs to life, including the number one hit ‘My Guy.’ And yet, she told me and my wife that she didn't know what would happen to her little girl Sugar after she died. In 1992, with no income earned from decades of radio airplay, Mary died without being able to provide for her daughter…”

“I think about the late Junior Walker going out on tour sick with cancer, needing to earn income. I think about Bo Diddley, today still recovering from a stroke he suffered last year while performing – at nearly 80 years old. Many of our greatest artists, who created the recordings that are the soundtracks of our lives, must tour until they die because they are not compensated by radio for the performance of their work.”

“How can it be fair, how can it be right that Mary Wells, Junior Walker, Bo Diddley and so many others who have contributed so much to music and to the success of radio are not compensated for their talent?” Moore asked the subcommittee members.

“The stories that Judy and Sam shared today are not unlike others we’ve heard,” said Mark Kadesh, Executive Director of the musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today) Coalition. “Clearly radio should compensate the artists who bring music to life. It is time for Congress to give artists a fair performance right on radio.”

The “Hearing on Ensuring Artists Fair Compensation: Updating the Performance Right and Platform Parity for the 21st Century” was the first major step in creating a fair performance right on radio in the United States. Creation of a fair performance right would compensate the performers, background singers, studio musicians and copyright holders for their talent and hard work when their songs are broadcast on the radio.

###

People who love music understand that creativity, talent and hard work are required to bring it to life. The goal of the musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today) Coalition is to ensure that struggling performers, local musicians and well-known artists are compensated for their music when it is played both today and in the future. Of all the ways we listen to music, corporate radio is the only one that receives special treatment. Big radio has a free pass to play music – refusing to pay even a fraction of a penny to the performers that brought it to life. The musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today) Coalition is committed to making sure everyone, from up-and-coming artists to our favorites from years-ago, is guaranteed Fair Pay for Air Play. For more information on the musicFIRST (Fairness in Radio Starting Today) Coalition please visit www.musicFIRSTcoalition.org.

 

[Nostracorvus]

Maybe radio should charge the artists for airtime seeing as the artists do make profit from the records they sell. After all, a commercial, the music is pretty much just a commercial for the artist, and the station does charge for air time, so...

somebody ought to meet in the middle or go get a sammich and chill out and enjoy the fact people still enjoy their music after many years...

 

[radiopimp]

I agree about the sammich.
It's bad enough we have the shakedown tactics of BMI to deal with...now this?

 

[jboydingram]

Get real...everyone is trying to tap the broadcast revenue stream...Satellite,
internet, now the artists(?), and whatever. Vigilance is the price of liberty...Thanks..JBI

 

[beefjerky]

Sorting out radio’s performance tax victors. Who would benefit? The big check would go to record labels, not artists like Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, and Judy Collins. Both testified before Congress last week in support of the proposed new tax on radio. An Inside Radio analysis of monitored airplay statistics show that of 157 million song spins last year, only 12,840 were by legends Sam & Dave for songs like Soul Man, mostly on a shrinking list of oldies stations. And only 441 spins featured Judy Collins. Not much money on the table for either artist. One estimate puts the payoff at $12K for Sam Moore & Dave Prater and pocket change for Collins. But the big four record companies would each get an estimated $50 million per year.

Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil has more to say about the performance royalty flap. Sam Moore lashed out at Neil last week. And Neil responded to Inside Radio: “Sam is probably a great guy. From what I read, he’s a hard working guy. My comments were never directed at him or anyone specifically. I think more than anything they reflect what I hear and feel from people in radio. We’re frustrated that many artists give radio no credit at all for the success they enjoy. Somewhere in the early 60’s, a radio programmer heard Sam’s music and took a chance on playing it. Then other stations started to play it, and his songs became hits. That’s the platform that Sam and other artists have used, certainly along with plenty of hard work and talent, to be successful.”

Neil suggests artists have no loyalty to the medium that promotes them at no cost. He continues “We in radio feel betrayed that we were there when no one else really knew many of these artists, and now instead of blaming the corporate record companies, who milked the artists and are more consolidated big businesses than radio ever thought of being, they are attacking the people who were their early partners. We’re just the folks who believed enough in what we heard, and played by the rules that were set with the record companies. We play your artists….you provide us the music for free. Now, as our business is struggling with no revenue growth to speak of in seven years, we feel betrayed and very unappreciated for our role in the careers of countless artists.”

And Neil reacts to the estimate on who would get rich from the performace tax. “The saddest thing is that the big record companies are using many of these artists again. The figures show just how little these older acts would benefit because their music doesn’t get anywhere near the airplay of the artists of today. So, the artists of today who get paid more in one year than people like Sam made in most of his life, will be the ones to benefit more from any performance rights tax on radio, along with the big record companies who will split the big money among just a few players to feed their never ending greed. First they took the money from the artists….now they are using them to take money from local radio.”

Top spins in 2007: By the way, this years ‘big check’ would go to Nelly Furtado. “Say It Right” has over 338,000 spins. Country radio’s pacesetter thus far: Rodney Atkins “Watching You” with almost 158,000 spins.

 

[lfuss]

More thoughts on performance rights fees:

Sam Wilson (the names have been changed to protect the stupid) was one-half of the famous singing duo of Sam & Willie. They had several big hits back in the 60s, several of which were million sellers. Sam made lots of money, but squandered it all on a lavish lifestyle that included drugs, booze, and loose women. Several of Sam & Willie's songs are still played on oldies stations today, and Sam feels that such stations should have to pay him because "they are making money off my hard work."

Bubba Smith was employed by the State Highway Department back in the 60s. Bubba was the foreman of the crew that built the I-20 bridge over the Mississippi River. Like Sam, Bubba made a lot of money too. It was, after all, a union job. Bubba squandered all his money on a lifestyle that included hunting trips to Arkansas, lots of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and frequent visits to the local strip club where he was often spotted sticking $20 bills in the garter belt of Earline, Bubba's favorite. Today, thousands of people drive across the bridge that Bubba helped build, and many delivery trucks use the bridge. Bubba feels that he should get a residual every time somebody drives over the I-20 bridge, because "those truckers are making money off my hard work."

See how ridiculous this is?

Sam and Bubba both got paid for doing what they were doing when they did it. Why should anybody be obligated to pay them anything now?

LF

 

[w9wi]

One wonders if... the time might be right for "open-source" music?

Idea being.. that bands, stations, and the audience bypass labels. Post music for *legal* free download. Offer to sell pre-recorded CDs with printed cover art. Use download site to promote concerts. Ask for donations? ("shareware" music?) Free airplay on radio is welcomed as making it more likely radio audience will buy CDs & concert tickets. (stations enjoy being able to play music without paying rights fees - and might find artists not able to get signed to major labels. Nearly all of today's most popular artists were unsigned at one time.)

Run a "Battle of the Bands" - rather than offering a recording contract as the prize, offer to pay for a few days of studio time, to press a few hundred CDs for sale, and to post the resulting tracks on the station website for download.

Would it work? Who knows...