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Dionne Warwick: ‘Fair Pay for Air Play’ About Economic Justice |
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Little did the public know that when they heard Dionne Warwick sing, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and other hits on the radio for the past four decades, none of the money made off the airplay found its way to her—it all went in the radio station owners’ pockets.
Now Warwick and other performers have a chance to finally get what they are due—but Big Radio CEOs are resorting to personal attacks in an effort to derail legislation that would pay performers like Warwick when their music is played on the radio.
Writing today on the Huffington Post, Warwick says the Civil Rights for Musicians Act (H.R. 848), dubbed “Fair Pay for Air Play,”
is about economic justice for African American artists. It’s about what’s right. And it’s about time.
The bill, introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), would close a loophole in copyright law that allows AM and FM stations to duck royalty payments to performing artists. 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 also do not pay a performance royalty for foreign artists, American artists are not compensated when their music is played on stations around the world.
Big Radio has launched a propoganda campaign led by Cathy Hughes, owner of the African American mega-company Radio One, which claims the legislation would hurt African American radio stations.
In her post, Warwick says:
The struggling musicians who need the Civil Rights for Musicians Act don’t want a handout from Cathy Hughes….They just want to be paid for their work. This legislation would make sure that these artists are directly compensated, not the recording executives who may have stolen from them….
I am proud of my support for the Civil Rights for Musicians Act, even if it means suffering though the tirades of Ms. Hughes. I hope she understands that the struggle to pass the Civil Rights for Musicians Act isn’t about us any more than Rosa Parks’s bravery was about getting a better seat on the bus.
You can read Warwick’s entire post here.
Last week, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) and the NAACP endorsed the legislation saying it would not hurt black radio and that musicians, like all workers, deserve to be paid a fair wage.
The Music First Coalition, which includes the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Coalition of Trade Union Women (CLUW), is leading an effort to pass the bill. The AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE) also is backing the bill.
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Writing today on the Huffington Post, Warwick says the Civil Rights for Musicians Act (H.R. 848), dubbed “Fair Pay for Air Play,” is about economic justice for African American artists. It’s about what’s right. And it’s about time.
Am I missing something here? Are the African-Amercan artists the only ones who don’t get paid when their music is played on the radio? (Which is what the statement above implies.) Or is Ms. Warwick attempting to turn this into another ‘racist’ issue? If that’s the case, shame on her!
How is this a “Burning Worker” issue?
Well, I just wonder how much of the royalties would go to the record companies, It seems a minority race leaches off its own before they go after others. I am wondering if this bill will create another situation where record companies will attack and sue listeners for listening to radio stations that play royalty free music?
If radio stations have to pay to play, will the CD police come into my home and charge me for every time I play something from a CD I bought? I’m pretty sure this is old ground that was hashed over back in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. The “artists” lost then, they should lose now.
The recording companies bought the services of the artists who knew they would be recorded. During the career-life of the artists, they understood they would be paid teensy little sums for the recording and selling of their artistry, and the recordings would gin up interest in the shows these people would put on for fantastical ticket prices. Ms. Warwick has been selling tickets for 40 years because of those little bits of nostalgia wafting from the radio.