An FCC filing submitted by musicFIRST, the recording industry lobbying group that seeks to impose new royalty payments on broadcast radio stations across the U.S., offers no further arguments on the subject or any statements in opposition of the non-binding Local Radio Freedom Act.
Rather, musicFIRST and joint filer Future of Music Coalition seek to claim a position for small-market radio that may simply benefit themselves, advancing their own music licensing proposals groups such as the NAB won’t want.
The musicFIRST FCC filing focus on radio industry deregulation — and musicFIRST’s opposition (along with that of the FMC) is to any further loosening of ownership rules.
In short, musicFIRST wants the FCC to preserve the intragroup competition that remains between owners of AM and FM stations at local market levels.
It argues, “AM/FM radio station owners also all compete in intergroup competition with satellite radio and streaming audio platforms for audience and revenue. We also respectfully request that Congress be advised that smaller AM/FM clusters must and do compete with both larger AM/FM clusters locally as well as streaming and satellite-based audio providers for audience and revenue. We, as members of the music community who provide much of the content used by all audio platforms to generate audience and revenue, care about the well-being of all AM/FM radio stations. We are concerned about the impacts of potential further consolidation of ownership of FM radio stations at local market levels on ownership diversity, viewpoint diversity and localism, including with respect to music playlists.”
The musicFIRST lobbying group adds that because the organization is particularly supportive of smaller market stations, who they say are competitively disadvantaged against the larger owners, the Commission should turn down an NAB proposal to “eviscerate current numerical limits on the number of FM stations that one entity can own in a given market.”
Lastly, musicFIRST contends that if the FCC were to eliminate or loosen local FM ownership rules, as the NAB advocates for, it would do so at the expense of owners of smaller clusters who wish to continue to compete for audience and revenue locally against those AM/FM clusters who are currently maxed out under existing FM ownership rules.
To access the musicFIRST filing in full, click HERE.
