Eric Rhoads' Blog
Lawmakers Ask NAB, MusicFirst To Talk Royalties
November 2, 2009: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and committee members have written to NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith and NAB Joint Board Chair/Commonwealth Broadcasting President/CEO Steve Newberry and to representatives of the MusicFirst Coalition to request that they meet, along with committee members and staffers, to try to negotiate a "mutually beneficial" agreement on performance royalties. Both committees have approved the Performance Rights Act, which would impose performance royalties on broadcast radio.
TheHill.com reports that the letter requested that the organizations, "as representatives of the stakeholders most affected by the provisions of this legislation, enter into negotiations before this legislation is considered on the floor of either House. The negotiated resolution will be considered by Congress as it takes up passage of this act."
The proposed negotiation period would be November 17-December 1.
NAB EVP Dennis Wharton said in a statement that stopped short of expressing willingness to negotiate royalties terms: "NAB is of course willing to talk with members of Congress on this issue and any issue that could negatively impact the ability of free and local hometown radio stations to serve our listeners. We would hope that any discussions would also include the nearly 300 members of Congress who oppose the RIAA-backed bill."
The anti-royalties resolution known as the Local Radio Freedom Act has added two more co-sponsors in the House, bringing the total to 252. An identical resolution in the Senate has 27 co-sponsors.
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(11/3/2009 10:33:52 PM) The only mutually beneficial agreement is the agreement that has been in effect for many years and is still in effect now. It is the only agreement that makes it possible for EVERYONE to WIN. Few, if any, radio stations will survive in the long run if they had to pay huge sums of money to promote music without anything in return from the music industry. Congressmen and Senators who are backing the RIAA in this issue must be thinking that radio broadcasters are "MADE OF MONEY" and are bluffing when we say we can not survive those huge payments we would be required to make. The sad part is, the very people those lawmakers are trying to help will be just as big losers as broadcasters. A good deal is a deal where everyone wins like the deal that exists now. A bad deal is a deal where everyone loses which, without a doubt in my mind, will be the case. The lawmakers who back the RIAA are unknowingly doing their friends in the music industry, as well as the country as a whole, a HUGE dis-service. EVERYONE WILL BE WORSE OFF FOR IT. PERIOD! Should there be an exception to that, it would be the "all talk" networks which are gaining rapidly in popularity largely due to this issue. Once it is done, no matter how loud the music industry cries, it would take a long time to ever get it back like it is working so well now. Remember the famous saying "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT"? |
| - Ralph Clenney |
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