Performance Rights Act clears Senate Judiciary Committee Panel

story by Inside Radio

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the proposed Performance Rights Act which would create a royalty on radio stations. Senators rejected proposals to give artists the option of opting out of the royalty system, as well as requiring the FCC to certify the fee won't hurt minority owners. But it did agree to push back the implementation date and offer more flat rates for small stations. The vote sends the bill to the full Senate floor.

In a letter to Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) a group of civil rights groups and ethnic broadcasters argue the bill would reduce already low levels of minority station owners — currently at around 7% of all stations.

“The new FCC will have its hands full correcting the historic inequities facing minority broadcasters,” they write, saying Congress will make the FCC’s job more difficult by approving a royalty. They point to analysis by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the National Association of Media Brokers which estimates one third of minority broadcasters would be pushed into bankruptcy by the proposed fee.

But royalty supporters have their own letter of support from organized labor and several Black and Hispanic religious organizations backing the radio fee. "We believe in the old-fashioned idea that musicians, like all workers, deserve to be paid for their hard work," they write in a letter to Leahy.

To date, 26 Senators have backed a non-binding resolution opposing a royalty. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is the latest to come out against what the National Association of Broadcasters has called a "tax" on radio stations. In the House, a similar resolution has the support of 251 members.

Poll: 75% oppose royalty.

A National Association of Broadcasters-sponsored survey finds three-quarters of Americans don't support a performance royalty. And 85% feel there's a promotional value to artists who receive airplay. NAB says it shows the more Americans know about a proposed performance tax, the more likely they are to they oppose it. The NAB placed anti-royalty ads in three Capitol Hill newspapers today.