For approximately the 20th time since the advent of radio and records, labels and performers are hoping that proposed legislation — called, this time, the Fair Play Fair, Pay Act – will result in royalty payments from terrestrial radio. The act, sponsored by Jerrald Nadler (D-N.Y.) and co-sponsored by Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), already has produced loud opposition from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which has beaten back every previous attempt to legislate a performance royalty for terrestrial broadcasts of master recordings, most recently in 2009. Key elements in the new legislation include:
–Imposing a royalty on commercial radio stations comparable to a figure negotiated in an open marketplace under the auspices of the Copyright Royalty Board. Labels and performers already have obtained such a royalty from digital outlets.
–Imposing a low annual fee of $1,000 for independent radio stations with $1 million or less in annual revenue, and $500 per year for college stations. The fees are meant to undercut the NAB’s key argument against master recording performance royalties: that smaller stations can’t afford them.
–Wording that prevents radio from offsetting payments to songwriters in order to pay performers.
–Providing a process for producers, engineers and mixers to receive their applicable share of 2 percent of revenue for recordings made before Nov. 1, 1995 (when labels began paying royalties directly to producers).
“We’re pleased that 147 House members and [13] senators already agree that the fees proposed by Rep. Nadler would kill jobs, hurt artist promotion and devastate local economies,” the NAB said in a statement. (Many legislators already have signed a nonbinding resolution to support local radio, one of the tools that the NAB used to oppose performance-royalty legislation in 2009.) The next steps? Waiting to see if the bill reaches the House floor for a vote – and if corresponding legislation is introduced in the Senate.