Ahead of the Bell: Radio Royalties

Ahead of the Bell: Radio Royalties

	Published : Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:48 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House subcommittee on Tuesday will hear testimony from recording artists, including Judy Collins and Sam Moore, who want to be paid when their music is broadcast by over-the-air radio stations.

Under the current law, only songwriters and music publishers are paid a royalty when their songs are played on AM or FM radio. Performers are paid a royalty when radio broadcasters play songs on the Internet, such as when a station streams music on its Web site.

Satellite radio broadcasters -- XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. -- are required to pay royalties to both songwriters and performers.

Recording artists and others, including music companies, say radio stations should also pay their fair share to performers.

'Corporate radio should be held to the same standards, play by the same rules as its competitors and pay artists and labels fair market value for their music,' according to a statement by the musicFIRST Coalition, a new lobbying group that formed last month.

But the National Association of Broadcasters, a trade group that represents roughly 7,000 radio stations -- including some owned by the nation's largest radio station operator, Clear Channel Communications Inc. -- said what artists and music companies want amounts to a 'tax' of billions of dollars for stations. He said local broadcasters already pay songwriters about $450 million annually.

He said radio airplay helps generate music sales for artists and their record labels. He added that the Recording Industry Association of America -- a trade group that represents music companies, including Warner Music Group Corp. -- want royalties to make up for several years of lagging sales.

In addition to Collins and Moore, Rep. Paul W. Hodes, D-N.H. and Marybeth Peters, who is the U.S. Register of Copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office, are also scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary's subcommittee on courts, the Internet and intellectual property.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m.