Another Target For The Copyright Board

I found this article from the consumerist website and it looks like the copyright board is also going after radio stations. Radio Stations have paid BMI and ASCAP, the rights to broadcast song on the air. Those fees went to pay the song writer, but not the performer or the record company. So now the copyright board is going to force radio stations to pay performance fees to the artists and record companies as well. The rational from the record companies is that they need to generate more revenue since music sales are down. Also some artists complain that they don't receive any money from their hit performances since they didn't write the songs.

However, the bottom line is that independent, and small NPR stations would find themselves out of business due to these high fees. So while I feel for these artists who sang other peoples songs, they will end up killing off the one thing that keeps their name out in public. Many of the smaller radio stations, and especially NPR stations play an eclectic mix of music from artists who would never make it onto mainstream radio. The only radio stations left ( and it is getting pretty close to that now thanks, to fiscal conservative deregulation of radio, which allow big corporations to own as many radio stations as they please) will be the big corporate radio.

So even if Internet radio gets spared from the July 15th deadline, this new fee will wipe it out anyway. Just remember keep up the fight and contact your congress person today to save Internet radio.