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‘Fair Pay for Air Play’ Won’t Hurt Black Radio Stations |
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The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) have joined with the NAACP to put to rest the false claims that legislation to give fair pay to performers whose music is played on radio would hurt black radio stations.
If enacted, the Civil Rights for Musicians Act (H.R. 848), dubbed “Fair Pay for Air Play,” would protect the rights of performers by ensuring that they get paid a fair wage when their music is played on the radio. The bill would close a loophole in copyright law that allows AM and FM stations to duck royalty payments to performing artists.
Big Radio conglomerates have pulled out all the stops to derail the bill. In an all-too-familiar scenario, corporate executives are resorting to personal attacks against the bill’s supporters, especially the bill’s sponsor, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). They also have launched a misinformation campaign led by black-owned mega-company Radio One, which claims the legislation would hurt African American radio stations.
Says William Lucy, president of the CBTU and secretary-treasurer of AFSCME:
All workers deserve a fair wage for a fair day’s work. Musicians are no different. The way things stand now, Big Radio conglomerates make billions in advertising profits every year by playing hit music, but they don’t pay the musicians that recorded those songs a single penny. As a result, many performers have to continue going out on the road well into their 70s and 80s just to get by. That’s not right.
APRI President Clayola Brown adds:
The Civil Rights for Musicians Act won’t hurt black radio in the least. The bill includes language that protects small radio stations. Companies like Radio One that are handing out $10 million bonuses to their CEO’s can easily afford to pay the musicians that bring in their incredible profits.
The Music First Coalition, which includes the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), is leading an effort to pass the bill.
In March, Paul Almeida, president of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE), told the House Judiciary Committee:
Commercial radio stations earned over $16 billion in advertising revenues last year, yet they paid nothing to the performers whose music they played. As union members, we believe that this is an issue of fairness. We believe in the principle that a fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.
The United States is one of only a few countries that do not provide fair performance rights on radio. The others include Qatar, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and China.
Also, because U.S. radio stations do not pay a performance royalty for foreign artists either, American artists are not compensated when their music is played on stations around the world.
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This bill is being promoted as helping artists, but the reality it that it will do the opposite. The notion that radio stations don’t pay royalties is not true. Radio pays royalties to BMI, ASCAP and other writers groups. Radio in most other countries are government funded with taxes on walkmans, car stereos and other radios that are used by the radio industry to pay royalty fees. The recording industry and radio fought a bitter battle over internet streaming royalties. That deal supposedly contained a promise to pay royalties to artists and a pledge from the music industry not to seek any more royalties from the radio industry. What percentage of these fees go to the performance artists…radio folks would not be as opposed to this bill if 100% of the fees went to the artists, but much of this money is going to the record companies. Also if performing artists are hurting for a lack of revenue, why not seek that money from the record companies and music writers who are currently paid by the radio industry?
I don’t know if you’ve listened to commercial radio recently, but in the last year stations have changed formats and laid off on air personnel as a result in record losses in ad revenue, much of it from auto dealers, local realtors and newspapers that are no longer advertising on radio. Radio stations with Black radio formats have been hit the hardest. Black stations that a year ago that had up to ten DJs now may have two or three who are working longer hours with less pay, with syndicated or recorded programmig replacing those live DJs, many of whom belonged to AFTRA or other unions.
The piece claims that commercial radio stations earned $16 million in revenue last year…but much of that was generated by the growing number of sports, talk, news and religious stations that don’t play any music. The combination of increasd royalty fees, declining revenue and new ratings technology that devalues the worth of Black radio advertising has threatened the future of the 200 or so Black owned stations in the US out of a total of 15,000 US stations. In Pittsburgh, the Sheridan Group, which owns the nation’s only black syndicated news network, recently sold off its three flagship Pittsburgh stations to a Catholic broadcaster, leaving Pennslyvania’s second largest city without a Black music station. HR 848 will hurt performing artists, many of whom make the bulk of their money touring. Frankie Beverly, the O’Jays and George Clinton were recently in town, and they had near sellouts at their shows, which were sponsored and almost exclusively promoted on local Black radio. These artists haven’t had a hit in years and get little, if any promotion from their record companies. Do these and other performing Black artists write off Pittsburgh, since most touring recording artists can’t afford TV ads, no Black radio stations to advertise on and a Black newspaper that only reaches a fraction of Blacks in Pittsburgh and could be out of business the next time these groups tour?
It’s interesting that the AFL-CIO blog is taking the position of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a well financed DC lobby group that has never been a friend of AFTRA members or recording artists, given the fights Prince, En Vogue and Toni Braxton have engaged with record companies. The question the AFL-CIO should be asking is why non writing recording artists were not included in the deal to pay lifetime royalties to writers?
The Conyers bill provides a double payment for writers/performers like Prince, Smokey Robinson and Ashford & Simpson who currently receive writers royalties from radio. Songwriters should be concerned about this bill because if more radio stations embrace the Pittsburgh model in which Black stations no longer play music, writers will lose revenue because the songs they have written will no longer be played on the radio.
Finally it’s interesting that Congressman Conyers would sponsor a bill with the backing of the multibillion dollar recording industry, but not sponsor legislation to insure the future of the Black owned radio. Several years ago Radio One had 80 stations from Los Angeles to Washington DC., today Radio On has 52 stations, with none west of Dallas. Black radio is barely holding. LA once had three Black owned stations but Stevie Wonder says if it wasn’t for his millions, he would have to sell off LA’s only Black owned station. When Black officials want to reach Black America, they come to Black radio but what will they do if these stations are no longer around.
Isn’t it peculiar that the record companies relentlessly pursue any person that pirates any music saying how this “robs performers” of their royalties… funny, I would wager that the record companies get paid for tracks being played on the radio!
Just another case of Corporate Greed.. It is Time for the Working, (slave) class to revolt against Corporate Greed and the Wealthy Elite!