[ffrr]

seminal moment for those of us in the business..The next two days will make a huge difference in all U.S. artists and producers' future income. We are at a critical moment and now is the time to act. A vote in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is imminent, so your representative needs to hear from you today or tomorrow (May 11 or 12).

Royalties are paid to performers by U.S. Internet radio and satellite radio, and by terrestrial broadcasters everywhere in the developed world. But in the U.S., AM/FM radio does not pay for the music it uses. The Performance Rights Act would close the "corporate radio loophole" that prevents artists from earning royalties when their work is used by the $16 billion radio industry. If you believe that performers should be compensated whenever another business profits from their work, please take three minutes and place a call to your legislator's office.

It's quick and easy. Simply go to musicfirstcoalition -- Legislative Action Center and click "Call Now" for instructions.

This will mean a great deal of additional income and lots of it will be income from outside of the United States that U.S. artists have previously been ineligible to collect.

Please spread the word if you feel so inclined/

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

"artists"
Do you mean artists, or do you mean the recording industry?
(when the recording industry speaks, they usually say "artists" but mean themselves)

 

[CDBacklash]

Artists on the radio earn too much money as it is. *refraining from making a political comment*

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I am sort of with CDBacklash on this one. Most of the stuff I hear on radio is commercial pop and rock, which are from big record companies, who hype and market the band so well that they end up making tons of money anyway. Its the independent artists and the ones who do it for the music and not for the money who we should be worried about. Not the Britney spears,Kelly Clarkson,Miley Cyrus, Nickelback etc etc.

 

[Uncle Erik]

The music I listen to on the radio is usually in the public domain. The commercial music on the radio is 99% unlistenable.

I've said this before, but Big Music needs to stop crapping on their paying customers. They put out highly compressed garbage for teens who steal the music anyway.

Those of us who actually pay for music get nothing. I'll shell out $20-$30 for a high quality recording of good music on SACD or 180g. But, apparently, my money isn't as good as capturing the attention of some teen who steals the product.

To hell with the industry. And as much as I'd like to comment on the politics, I won't.

 

[PWilson]

O. I no longer need to say what I was going to say.

 

[Signal2Noise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffrr /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...AM/FM radio does not pay for the music it uses. ....

Really?

If that's the case then why is there so much repetition on vanilla radio? I thought they were paid to play as well as pay to play.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif The music I listen to on the radio is usually in the public domain. The commercial music on the radio is 99% unlistenable. I've said this before, but Big Music needs to stop crapping on their paying customers. They put out highly compressed garbage for teens who steal the music anyway. Those of us who actually pay for music get nothing. I'll shell out $20-$30 for a high quality recording of good music on SACD or 180g. But, apparently, my money isn't as good as capturing the attention of some teen who steals the product. To hell with the industry. And as much as I'd like to comment on the politics, I won't.

VERY well said along with the posts above.

I could care less about the commercial sellouts on the radio. The bands most of us listen to are the ones who need the most help. The sad part is, a lot of the bands I listen to have members who still have (or have recently had) part time jobs to pay the bills. I have no problems opening my wallet for them, and any legislation that supports them I would gladly support, but to make royalties on the radio plays? I do not listen to the radio, but I would never indirectly pay (more ads, subscription, whatever they come up with) for compressed garbage unless I can hold it in my hand.

No polycarbonate = no greenbacks from me.

 

[Moontan13]

I have heard this will effectively double the amount of royalties paid by the radio stations, pushing many of them out of business. Royalties are currently paid to the writers of music, and the new rules will have performers paid as well.

I don't object to the rule change in principle, but a lot of small stations will be lost.

 

[aaron313]

Only the writers should receive money. If you want more than a flat fee, learn how to write some songs yourself. Where it gets tricky is when it could be argued that you did help write the song, but did not get a credit. But otherwise, if you were the fifth backup singer, you do not deserve royalties.

 

[Kropotkin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffrr /img/forum/go_quote.gif This will mean a great deal of additional income and lots of it will be income from outside of the United States that U.S. artists have previously been ineligible to collect.

That's just what the rest of the world wants; To pay your big record companies more money...

 

[tattoou2]

No to Big Music!

 

[aristos_achaion]

If you care about "artists", don't have anything to do with the RIAA or their music...get yourself a Magnatune subscription. Really, if I'd heard about this sooner, I'd have called my Reps asking them to vote against this.

 

[ksween93]

If you care about the artists, you'll go to their shows and buy their merchandise. That's how they make money, not records or anything of the sort.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

I hear that lots of artists make a very small percentage of money received from shows cos they have to lower the ticket prices since everyone isnt "Metallica".

As for merchandise, meh. If there was a way to legally download lossless music from the artists website and the money goes directly to them and those involved in making the album, that would be No.1 on my list. As for radio, I gave up on that a long long time ago.