Broadcasters, Music Industry Duke It Out In Print
April 26, 2010
| 1:13 PM
Broadcasters and the music industry have dueling commentaries in a Washington Post publication Monday over the long-simmering demand that AM and FM radio stations pay a fee to musicians and record labels for playing their music on air.
The commentaries, which appeared in the Washington Post's new Capital Business publication, highlighted both sides' long-standing arguments on the issue. Jennifer Bendall, executive director of the music industry coalition MusicFIRST, argued in her piece that legislation that would require radio stations to pay a performance rights fee is a matter of basic fairness: "Everyone deserves to be paid for their work."
She added that broadcasters are being hypocritical in opposing such legislation as they battles cable firms for retransmission fees. "Broadcasters themselves cannot honestly oppose paying for the music they play at the same time they are asking cable systems to pay them for use of their TV programs through retransmission consent agreements," Bendall wrote.
National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Gordon Smith countered in his own commentary that the legislation would hurt already struggling local radio stations; at least half of the fees would go to big record labels many of which are foreign owned; and that musicians already benefit from the exposure they receive from radio airplay.
"No one disputes the need for artists to be paid for their work," wrote Smith, a former GOP senator from Oregon. "But like every other business in America, those payments should come from their employer, the record label, not from the local radio stations that have propelled their careers to stardom."
The performance rights legislation has been approved by both the House and Senate Judiciary committees, but the leaders of those panels have urged the two sides to try to reach a compromise.
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