From FMQB: "[Yesterday’s] Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on ‘Exploring the Scope of Public Performance Rights’ saw both sides of the debate on the additional royalty for radio speak before lawmakers. Singer-songwriters Lyle Lovett and Alice Peacock spoke on behalf of musicFIRST, the organization pushing for the performance right.

“When radio plays recorded works, they generate profit for themselves because they attract listeners and advertising dollars. Yet radio has never compensated performers for the value their creative work brings to the radio industry, because the Copyright Act does not protect sound recordings in the same way it protects the underlying songs,” said Lovett…

"NAB Radio Board Vice Chairman Steven Newberry, President/CEO of Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation, spoke on the organization’s behalf at the hearing. Newberry said, ‘The existing model works for one very simple and significant reason: the promotional value that the record labels and performers receive from free airplay on local radio stations drives consumers to purchase music. A survey done by Critical Mass Media shows that 85 % of listeners identify FM radio as the place they first heard music they purchased. With an audience of 232 million listeners a week, there is no better way to expose and promote talent.”

"Newberry added, ‘What I fail to understand after nearly 30 years in the radio industry is why the recording industry is willing to essentially bite the hand that feeds it… The negative effect of such a dramatic increase in radio station costs will be felt by radio stations and their listeners across the country and in every one of the states you represent,’…

"Alice Peacock rebutted the NAB’s argument, saying, ‘Every performance has the potential to be promotional, but why should that make a difference? I just got back from a gig in Grand Rapids, MI. Imagine if the club owner used the same logic about promotion. What if at the end of the night, after I had filled his club with paying customers, he told me he didn’t have to pay me because my performance helped promote my record sales… Frankly, the promotion argument sounds a little silly.’"

Read the entire article at FMQB.

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