Radio Royalty Battle’s First Salvo In New Congress.

Story by Inside Radio

Familiar battle lines, with some new players, are being drawn in Washington in the decades-old battle over whether radio stations should pay a performance royalty for on-air music use. The effort comes just months after Congress passed a sweeping copyright reform bill that gave the music industry much of what it had sought, raising questions of how intent lawmakers will be on covering similar ground in the new session.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) is again circulating an anti-royalty resolution, asking members to sign onto the measure and in doing so stating their opposition to a performance royalty on AM/FM radio. With the retirement of Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), Conaway’s new partner across the aisle is Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), who will work to get Democrats onboard what’s become known as the Local Radio Freedom Act. The resolution has not yet been introduced, with the sponsors typically waiting until they have a sizable number of other House members signed on before taking that step. When a similar resolution was introduced two years ago it carried 115 co-sponsors. The list ultimately grew to 228—or 10 more than it takes to block any bill from passing the House.

In a letter sent to members of Congress on Jan. 30, the music-industry backed musicFirst Coalition aimed to undercut the radio industry’s efforts, calling the resolution “misleading and anti-artist” and attacking broadcasters for saying it’s the equivalent of a tax on local radio. “We strongly urge you to support music creators and not cosponsor the Local Radio Freedom Act,” musicFirst told lawmakers. How successful that effort will be isn’t clear. While the previous resolution was more quickly introduced, the start to the current session of Congress was atypically disrupted by the government shutdown.

New Jersey Broadcasters Association president Paul Rotella has fired off his own letter in response to musicFirst. He’s told members of Congress from his state that if a performance royalty is enacted it would force “a majority” of local stations to close. “Localism would be out the window and thousands in New Jersey would lose their jobs,” Rotella wrote. “Much more horrific, the closure of these vital broadcast outlets across America would also decimate our Emergency Alert System (EAS) capabilities and pose a genuine threat to homeland security.”

The 116th Congress has 89 new House members and nine new Senators, which provides both sides an opportunity to make their case. That’s likely to lead to more lobbying in the weeks and months to come. The Texas Association of Broadcasters says it plans to mount “a considerable re-education effort this spring” as a result of seven of the 22 lawmakers who supported radio on the issue leaving office. Other states are planning similar outreach.

For those members of Congress who’ve returned, musicFirst’s message is that the Music Modernization Act, which President Trump signed into law in October, wasn’t a cure-all. “Although the MMA corrected many wrongs and improved an outdated music licensing framework, there is one critical area that it did not touch: big AM/FM radio remains stuck in the past and still does not pay music creators for their work,” it said.

Rotella suggested if Congress were to dig back into the music royalty buffet, it should repeal payola laws and give radio the opportunity to charge labels and artists for the use of their airwaves—and enact a prohibition about labels calling radio programmers for airplay and let the artists figure out how to market their songs. Rotella’s proposal isn’t likely to get far in Congress, but his aim appears to illustrate the promotional value that radio has given to artists and labels since the medium first signed-on. “Our two industries have worked perfectly together for decades,” he said. “This symbiosis evinces the inescapable conclusion that both sides are benefiting.”

With the National Association of Broadcasters and musicFirst still engaged in private negotiations, there’s been less focus on the radio royalty issue during the past year as lawmakers hope the two industries can resolve their differences without congressional intervention. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has been the lead sponsor of the performance royalty proposal during the past several sessions of Congress and, with Democrats taking over the House, he’s become chair of the Judiciary Committee. Nadler, however, has not yet said whether he plans to reintroduce his bill. The focus of the Judiciary Committee has so far been on oversight of the Trump administration.

When the Committee had its organization meeting last month, Nadler said he and Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) have found bipartisan common ground on several issues including on the Music Modernization Act. As he looked forward, Nadler said they were not focused on “other areas” for this session.