Will The NAB Agree To A Performance Rights Tax In Exchange For Having RIAA Support Mandatory FM Radio In Mobile Phones?

Politics

from the rearranging-deck-chairs dept

We’ve discussed, for quite some time now, the ridiculousness of a performance rights tax on radio. This is the attempt, by the record labels, to get radio stations to pay performers for advertising and promoting their music. This is clearly not needed, because in the real world, without this, record labels already know that radio play is valuable: it’s why they keep running payola scams. For them to try to then legally mandate that money should flow in the opposite direction is downright ridiculous. In what world does the government make someone pay to promote someone else?

After years and years fighting this, we should have known that the NAB would come up with some ridiculous idea in the end. The NAB, which represents broadcasters, is almost always on the wrong side of policy debates (that’s what happens when your job is to protect a dying industry), but on this one issue we agreed… until now. Rumors are circulating that the NAB is willing to cave on performance rights, if the RIAA, in exchange, supports a totally wasteful plan to require FM radio receivers be placed in mobile phones, MP3 players and other digital devices. Now, everyone involved says no deal is done yet, but there are multiple indications that this is exactly where the conversation is heading.

The NAB tries to defend this by comparing FM radio — a dying technology — to federal mandates on digital television tuners. That, of course, was entirely different in so many ways. It involved attempts to move the country forward to a new technology, not mandating an obsolete one. It also was done for a very specific reason: to try to recapture tons of valuable spectrum that could be put to much more valuable and practical use. Mandating FM tuners is just a waste of time and money in a quixotic attempt by broadcasters to prop up FM radio. My mobile phone has an FM receiver today, and I’ve never even looked at it. Some manufacturers have chosen to put this technology into devices today — and that’s fine, if they choose to do so. But, mandating it as part of a backroom political deal? No thanks.

Filed Under: deals, fm radio, performance rights, performance tax, radio
Companies: nab, riaa

RIAA Gets AFL-CIO To Support Performance Tax: Payments In Perpetuity For A Small Amount Of Work

Music Industry

from the hard-day's-work? dept

The RIAA has been touting this for a little while already, but the AFL-CIO has officially signed on to support the RIAA’s highly questionable performance tax. This is a bogus attempt to boost RIAA revenue by taxing radio stations for promoting their music. The RIAA has been going around claiming that radio promoting its music is a “kind of piracy”, while at the same time claiming it’s somehow illegal for radio stations not to play RIAA music. Yeah. Logic is not the RIAA’s strong suit. Even worse, of course, is that the RIAA has blatantly demonstrated that it knows there’s tremendous value in getting its music on the air. It’s been involved in payola scams for decades. To basically get the government to mandate reverse payola is the height of obnoxiousness.

Of course, what does the AFL-CIO have to do with any of this? Absolutely nothing. It’s pure politicking on the part of the RIAA and its offshoot lobbying group musicFIRST. The main point is to get more Congressional folks on board with the tax by saying “the unions support it!” Somewhere down the line, I’m sure the RIAA will come to the support of the AFL-CIO on some other random bill as well.

But what’s really ridiculous is the statement made by the AFL-CIO explaining why they support this:

“The labor movement was founded on the principle that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. That’s the principle at stake in the fight for the Performance Rights Act.”

But that’s not even close to true. The Performance Rights Act is about the opposite of a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. It’s about getting paid over and over and over and over and over again for a bit of work done years ago. And, it’s not a “fair day’s pay” either. A fair day’s pay is a contractually agreed upon wage between two parties. This is about the gov’t forcing a totally unnecessary and nonsensical tax on radio stations for promoting RIAA music. In what world is it fair to tax someone who helps promote your work?

Filed Under: performance rights, performance tax, unions
Companies: afl-cio, musicfirst, riaa

Rep. Conyers Compares Lack Of A Performance Right Tax To Slavery

Say That Again

from the sing-along-now dept

We thought it was crazy enough when an RIAA-organized lobbying group called radio “a form of piracy” because it didn’t pay musicians to promote their songs. But it appears that Rep. John Conyers, one of the biggest backers of forcing radio stations to pay an additional tax to help promote music, has taken it a step further. Via Copycense we learn that at an event put on by recording industry lobbyists, Conyers decided to compare the lack of a performance right mandatory fee for radio stations to slavery and indentured servitude. Seriously:

“In 1865, slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment. No more free labor,” Conyers said. “It abolished at the same time involuntary servitude. What does that have to do with what we’re here for today? Well, when you tell somebody that you’re benefiting from their work product but there’s no avenue for compensation, it kind of harkens back to that great problem.”

What an incredibly shameful thing to say. Beyond making the absolutely bizarre and ridiculous connection between the failure of one giant industry to force another big industry to hand over a chunk of cash (most of which never will be seen by any musicians), it ignores basic economics. Historically, the money has flowed the other way. For decades, record labels and promoters have used forms of payola to pay radio stations to play certain musicians. Why? Because they clearly knew that they got a ton of value out of those songs being promoted on the air. Songs on the radio are advertisements. What kind of industry gets Congress to force broadcasters to pay to run their advertisements — and then has the gall to have an elected official claim that not paying to play these ads are the equivalent of indentured servitude?

Of course, Conyers knows all about Payola. Back in 2002, he was the one who called for payola hearings on Capitol Hill. So how is it that he suddenly thinks that money not going the other way is somehow “no avenue for compensation”? He’s being blatantly intellectually dishonest here. Is it worth mentioning that in the last election the two largest contributors to his campaign were lawyers and the Music/Movie/TV industry?

The performance right tax is not about “indentured servitude.” It’s not even about people benefiting from a product where “there’s no avenue for compensation.” Quite the opposite. Getting your music on the radio is a huge challenge for most artists, and if you can get your music heard that way, it’s still a huge boost to a musician’s career. Does Conyers think that when there’s a popular commercial on TV that people want to see that the makers of that commercial are “slaves” because they’re not getting paid every time the commercial is played? It’s yet another example of corrupt politicians in DC pushing legislation that helps one particular industry, and making up completely ridiculous arguments to support their position. This isn’t about slavery or indentured servitude. It’s about Congress granting a huge mandatory windfall to the record labels (at the expense of radio stations) because those labels are unwilling to actually do something to properly capitalize on free promotion from the radio stations.

Filed Under: copyright, john conyers, payola, performance rights, performance rights act, performance tax, radio, slavery
Companies: riaa