Musicians Strike Back
The ad war over legislation that would require AM and FM radio stations to pay a fee to performers for playing their music on the air is heating up again as a coalition of record companies and musicians has launched an ad countering spots broadcasters are airing in opposition to the legislation.
The MusicFIRST coalition's ad, which will be airing on WTOP's AM and FM stations in the Washington area, claims that in opposing the legislation, broadcasters are acting like piggish corporations protecting their profits and refusing to compensate musicians for playing their music on AM and FM terrestrial radio stations. MusicFIRST also is launching a new Web site, www.piggyradio.com, Monday afternoon to detail its concerns.
"Here's another corporate conglomerate feeding at the trough," the ad begins with the sound of pigs snorting in the background. "It's big corporate radio. Yep, the same big corporate radio stations who last year pocketed billions and billions in revenues and failed to represent diverse and local communities while refusing to pay musicians for their work, the musicians we know and love. It's piggy and it's true,"
In its ads, which also are airing on WTOP and other stations, the National Association of Broadcasters also claims to be fighting big corporate interests, saying big record companies, many of them foreign owned, would be the real beneficiaries of the performance rights legislation. NAB also argues that musicians already benefit from free air play while the legislation would place a financial burden on already struggling local radio stations.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees have both passed the performance rights legislation but the leaders of those panels have urged the two sides to try to reach a compromise. While talks were held last year, no new discussions have been announced yet.
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