December 18, 2007 - Legal and Management
By Cortney Harding, N.Y.
Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) jointly introduced legislation today that would end the exemption of terrestrial radio stations from current copyright law which requires satellite radio, cable radio channels, and Internet webcasts to pay a royalty for the use of sound recordings.
The 'Performance Rights Act' remove the broadcaster exemption in the copyright law to assure that all platforms pay a performance royalty to artists.
The proposed legislation would give over-the-air broadcast stations the ability to use a statutory license and make one payment annually under a government-set rate for all the music they play, instead of having to negotiate with every copyright owner for each use of music.
Under the legislation, small commercial stations would pay $5,000 per year; noncommercial stations would pay $1,000 per year; stations that make only incidental uses of music, such as "talk radio" stations, would not pay for that music; and religious services that are broadcast on radio would be completely exempt.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
od"How much additional income will an artist actually receive?” is the unasked question is this proposed legislation.
Out of the tens of thousands of recording artists who will conceivably be covered under the "Performance Rights Act" legislation, how can any artist expect to receive a fair share? As a radio station manager, I am asking for a closer look at the practicality of the Performance Rights Act, which will ultimately benefit the legal counsel and employees of the collection agency to a greater extent than it will any performing artist.
If a country station is playing Sugarland and Big & Rich, their fees under the proposed law will still divided amongst unplayed artists like the Bellamy Brothers and Tammy Wynette.
If the law passes, we will make every attempt to negotiate individual fees with artists we actually play. That would provide a fair share, and offer radio the opportunity to work out a “willing buyer, willing seller” agreement both parties could live with.
Post a Comment