There’s a lobbying group out there that works “to ensure music creators get fair pay for their work on all platforms and wherever and however it is played.”
They’re not particularly fond of “big broadcasters” and wish “to end the broken status quo that allows AM/FM to use any song ever recorded without paying its performers a dime.”
Here’s what musicFIRST is up to now.
A call to action email was sent by musicFIRST Friday afternoon that serves as its latest rallying cry to thwart any passage of the Local Radio Freedom Act in the 116th Congress.
The email reads, “Most of us kick off a new year with resolutions to help this year be better than the last. Our hope is that a new year can bring opportunities to improve our lives and the lives of the people around us. In short, we strive to be better. But not everyone’s New Year’s resolutions are quite so noble.”
The example musicFIRST uses: “[The] broadcasters and their allies in Washington are gearing up, yet again, to introduce the Local Radio Freedom Act. Every Congress, broadcasters use their army of lobbyists to convince Members of Congress that AM/FM radio’s advantages over music streaming services and satellite radio should be preserved at all costs.”
In its view, the LRFA “is designed to protect a loophole that allows radio to avoid paying artists for their hard work. The 10 companies that are responsible for 50 percent of the revenue generated by radio want you to think this is about protecting your local station. It’s not. It’s about protecting their bottom line.”
With that, musicFIRST wants recipients of its communique to tell their Member of Congress and their Senator that “protecting artists is more important that protecting radio’s bottom line.”
In closing, musicFIRST says, “A new year and new Congress means new opportunities. Let’s take this opportunity to reject Big Radio’s lobbying blitz and to make LRFA and America’s failure to pay music creators a thing of the past. Tell Congress not to support the Local Radio Freedom Act!”
