Fair Play V. Radio Freedom

Democrats and Republicans have joined forces in the House of Representatives to revive the Fair Play Fair Pay act, which would force radio stations to pay artists, in addition to songwriters and publishers, for spins though it starts well behind a competing bill that would delegitimize it completely.

twitter.com/MusicFirst – MusicFirst Graphic
A graphic from MusicFirst supporting the Fair Play Fair Pay act.

Fair Play Fair Pay was originally introduced in 2015 and is being pushed by Democrat Jerrold Nadler of New York, along with Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Darrell Issa (R-California), John Conyers (D-Michigan), Tom Rooney (R-Florida), and Ted Deutch (D-Florida).

The bill enjoys support from organizations like MusicFirst and Content Creators Coalition but is vehemently opposed by radio stations.

The biggest beef stations have with the Fair Play Fair Pay Act is that it would impose more unnecessary fees on them, which they claim would stifle economic growth and kill jobs. Some argue that the promotion artists get from their spins is valuable in itself.

In this vein, the National Association of Broadcasters is supporting  the Local Radio Freedom Act, which is basically a statement that there should be no new fees because “the hardship that would result from a new performance fee would hurt American businesses, and ultimately the American consumers who rely on local radio for news, weather, and entertainment; and such a performance fee is not justified when the current system has produced the most prolific and innovative broadcasting, music, and sound recording industries in the world.”

The NAB remains “committed to working with Congress on balanced music licensing proposals that help grow the entire music ecosystem, promote innovation, and recognize the benefit of our free locally focused platform to both artists and listeners,” President and CEO Gordon Smith was quoted as saying in USA Today.

The Local Radio Freedom Act had 167 House cosponsors and 20 cosponsors in the Senate at press time. The Fair Play Fair Pay act had Nadler and the five cosponsors in the House.

The Fair Play Fair Pay Act’s plan is essentially to mandate that radio stations pay artists for spins the same way they do songwriters and publishers, capping royalty payouts at $500 for stations with less than $1 million in revenue, at $100 for public/community radio payouts, and to keep music used for religious/incidental purposes free.

 “Our current music licensing laws are antiquated and unfair, which is why we need a system that ensures all radio services play by the same rules and all artists are fairly compensated,” the representatives said in a statement. “Our laws should reward innovation, spur economic diversity and uphold the constitutional rights of the creators. That is what the Fair Play Fair Pay Act sets out to accomplish: fixing a system that for too long as disadvantaged music creators and pitted technologies against each other by allowing certain services to get away with paying little or nothing to artists.”