US music sector welcomes the AM-FM Act

By Emmanuel Legrand

Music industry representatives have applauded the introduction in Congress by Senator Marsha Blackburn and Rep. Jerrold Nadler of the Ask Musicians for Music Act (AM-FM), a bipartisan legislation that would require radio stations to remunerate performers and other rights holders for the use of recordings.

  Senator Blackburn (R-Tennessee) introduced the bill in the Senate while Rep. Nadler (D-N.Y.), who is Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a similar legislation in the House of Representatives. Nadler noted that the United States "is an outlier in the world for not requiring broadcast radio to pay artists when playing their music, while requiring satellite and internet radio to pay." This situation is "is unfair to both artists and music providers," he added.

  The Ask Musician for Music Act of 2019 would give artists and copyright owners "the right to make a choice to allow AM/FM radio to use their work for free or to seek compensation for their work," explained Nadler. The bill would also allow them to negotiate rates with broadcasters in exchange for permission for it to be aired. Both bills provide special treatment by protecting small, public, college, and other non-commercial stations.

Compensate music creators

  Blackburn said: “When music creators share their wonderful gift with the world, we hear songs that inspire and unite us. We should encourage such thriving talent and ensure the music community is properly compensated for their work."

  The AM-FM Act is a response to the absence in the United States of equitable remuneration for the use of music recordings by terrestrial radio. It mirrors the bill known as the Local Radio Freedom Act, supported by the National Association of Broadcasters, which "declares that Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings."

  The NAB, through its President/CEO Gordon Smith, said it "opposes the AM-FM Act, which could decimate the economics of America’s hometown radio stations that have launched the careers of countless musicians and exposed legacy artists to a new generation of listeners." Smith explained that "a bipartisan group of 201 House members and 25 US Senators recognise this potential harm and have cosponsored the Local Radio Freedom Act, a resolution opposing any new performance fee on local radio."

Finding a holistic solution

  Smith added: "NAB’s door remains open to work with the record labels to find a holistic solution to this issue that reflects the enduring value to artists and labels of local radio to our hundreds of millions of terrestrial and digital listeners. Unfortunately, the record labels have shown little interest in having those discussions.” 

  For Michael Huppe, CEO of Washington, DC-based rights society SoundExchange, which collects royalties on behalf of performers and labels for the use of recordings by non-interactive streaming services, the AM-FM Act will ensure "that the people who make the music have a protected property right in their own work by requiring broadcasters to get permission before they transmit recordings over the air."

  Added Huppe: “It sets the table for meaningful marketplace negotiations and ends the current market distortion in our laws that forces artists to subsidise the multi-billion-dollar FM radio broadcast industry."

Give artists control

  Other industry comments include:

> Mitch Glazier, Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA): "By requiring broadcasters to get permission from music creators to use their music in the same way broadcasters are entitled to give permission for the use of their signal - the AM/FM Act addresses inequities in law that should be fixed. Introducing the AM/FM Act on the same day the House Judiciary Committee marked up the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019 (the “STCPP Act”) underscores a core principle: both broadcasters and creators deserve the same rights when it comes to the use of their property. The current state of the law granting broadcasters that right while denying it to creators is unjust and skews the market.”

> Daryl Friedman, Chief Industry, Government and Member Relations Officer at the Recording Academy: "The AM-FM Act will give artists control over what is rightfully theirs, their music. The legislation is about consent for use of content, a basic concept that the NAB is seeking for its own television members. We thank Senator Blackburn and Representative Nadler for their leadership on this issue, and ask members of Congress who recognise the importance of intellectual property to join them and pass this legislation."

> David Israelite, President & CEO of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA): “Songwriters and music publishers support the AM-FM Act because music has value, and creators should be able to decide what is best with their intellectual property. For too long broadcasters have benefited from the lack of a sound recording performance right, as well as antiquated consent decrees that allow them to pay songwriters less than fair market value.”