I am trying to cut through the sides and get to the nitty gritty. Is this a good Bill? As of now, I am unsure how it helps artists or the stations. I am pretty sure it does not help the audiences - Rocket River http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h848/show Performance Rights Act To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 17, United States Code, and for other purposes. current 111st session of congress Other Bill Titles (2 more) Hide Other Bill Titles Short: Performance Rights Act as introduced. Official: To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 17, United States Code, and for other purposes. as introduced. 2/4/2009--Introduced. Performance Rights Act - Amends federal copyright law to: (1) grant performers of sound recordings equal rights to compensation from terrestrial broadcasters; (2) establish a flat annual fee in lieu of payment of royalties for individual terrestrial broadcast stations with gross revenues of less than $1.25 million and for noncommercial, public broadcast stations; (3) grant an exemption from royalty payments for broadcasts of religious services and for incidental uses of musical sound recordings; and (4) grant terrestrial broadcast stations that make limited feature uses of sound recordings a per program license option. Prohibits taking into account license fees payable for public performance via digital audio transmission of sound recordings in any proceeding to set or adjust the license fees for the purpose of reducing or adversely affecting such license fees. (Current law prohibits taking those fees into account in such a proceeding without referencing the purpose.) Prohibits anything in this Act from adversely affecting the public performance rights or royalties payable to songwriters or copyright owners of musical works. Prohibits taking into account the rates established by the Copyright Royalty Judges in any proceeding to reduce or adversely affect the license fees payable for public performances by terrestrial broadcast stations. Requires that such license fees for the public performance of musical works be independent of license fees paid for the public performance of sound recordings. Revises provisions relating to proceeds from the licensing of transmissions. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-848
I'll post in here while it's still in the Hangout. I'm on staff at a community radio station that mostly plays music. Our modus operandi is that we don't play anything you would hear on a commercial radio station or the Billboard Top 100. Heck, you can't even play a charting artist for ten years after a hit and only then can you play everything except the hit by them. And forget about artists (except jazz) that have gone platinum. What this enables us to do is place an emphasis on Texas artists (bands from Houston like the Wild Moccasins, Fat Tony, and the Young Mammals have recently topped our rotation charts) and national acts that are just trying to get heard. When artists like T-Pain (apologies to his fans) can become superstars and considered genuine artists, you know that something is wrong with the radio industry and the way that the public is fed material. This bill would shut us, and other non-profit radio stations, down so fast. As we do not play material from automated software during FM hours and require deejays to submit their own playlists and pick their own songs, it would be difficult to keep track off everything we play and even harder to pay any fines.
Wow! That is interesting. I know very little about the radio station industry thanks for the insider tip Rocket River
As far as I know: Better for the artists. Worse for the radio station. Potentially worse, or no effect, for the audience. There's going to be a town hall meeting somewhere at TSU sometime next week. I know that the president of the local musicians union is in favor of the bill.
Commerical Radio Stations are already paying serious cash to air various artists' music. A further rights fee would put most small to medium markets severely in the red. This to me is kind of like the paying college athletes conundrum. Radio stations are giving artists free marketing by playing their music. Artists are providing content to the radio stations. Stations are already paying for said content. That money is not going to the artists, but to me their beef is with the record companies and what deals they cut with various trade magazines and entertainment unions. Sheila Jackson Lee needs to stick to things she does well, like making Continental Airlines Flight Attendants bow down to her.
