HR 848 “The Performance Right Act” - What Does This Mean For Traditional Radio?

I'll be happy to tell you what this means, if passed. It means that internet radio stations and clubs will not be singled out and forced to pay to play music! Traditional radio has played music virtually FOR FREE. The RIAA has come down hard on internet radio in the past few years, demanding pay for play from stations that don't see anywhere near the profit of traditional radio stations. They simply don't have the same advertising base or backing that AM/FM stations have.

From here on out I will refer to traditional stations as "standard stations". With that said, they have been required to pay the song writers and publishers but never the performers or artists, to broadcast music. For clarification, they specifically pay ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and either BMI Broadcast Musicians Incorporated) or SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers). It was found that 20 percent of traditional stations netted 80 million dollars last year and none of that went in to the pockets of the same artists that are up in arms about their music being shared online. Where's the fairness in any of this?

Traditional stations claim this is the music industry "biting the hand that feeds it" because they claim to be the biggest avenue of promotion for artists. This is a blatant LIE as can be seen in the severe decline in CD/record/tape sales throughout the past few years. It's this decline that has artists upset and the RIAA on the hunt for people illegally sharing the copyrighted materials of music artists. I'm sure standard radio would love to blame internet piracy wholly for the decline in all offline music sales but let's be realistic shall we? If people listening to the radio in their car really wanted to go buy some of the old, tired, played out music they hear on a daily basis free on the radio anyway, they aren't going to pay the $15.99-$19.99 for one CD. CD's are over priced, you normally can't sample them (unless you listen "illegally" online that is)to see if they have more than just one good song, and who carries a portable CD player anymore? It's all ipods, MP3 players and what not, which I'm sorry to say DO NOT play CD's!

All in all, it's about damn time that terrestrial radio steps up to the plate and starts paying to play like the rest of the industry has been forced to do. I'm GLAD to see this coming about and I plan to email my congressmen and senators and demand that they support this bill.