Here’s some news that the musicFIRST Coalition won’t like reading.
A NAB-endorsed resolution opposing “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge” on local broadcast radio stations continues to gain support on Capitol Hill, with one more U.S. Senator and a half-dozen House members pledging to vote against any bill that would bring any new performance royalties to broadcast radio.
The Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA) is a “resolution,” not proposed legislation, despite its name.
Even so, the ever-growing support of the LRFA suggest that musicFIRST and lobbyists representing the interest of songwriters, music publishers and the world’s biggest music companies are losing steam in the latest effort to successfully introduce into law new legislation that would have AM and FM radio stations compensate them for music airplay — added royalties to what radio stations already pay.
As of June 24, the LRFA now has 181 co-sponsors in the House and 23 in the Senate.
Adding their support recently for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Larry Bucshon, John Curtis, Dusty Johnson, Ben Ray Lujan, Chris Pappas and Marc Veasey.
Adding his support for the companion resolution in the Senate is Indiana Republican Mike Braun.
Florida Democrat Kathy Castor and Texas Republican Michael Conaway are the principal cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House of Representatives (H. Con. Res. 20).
In the Senate, Republican John Barrasso of Wyoming and Democrat Martin Heinrich of New Mexico are the lead cosponsors of a companion resolution, S. Con. Res. 5.
The resolutions in both the House and Senate are one of the greatest bipartisan feats of the current Congress, which is largely unwilling to offer legislation supported by both Republicans and Democrats in an era where voters apparently are fueling the “us or nothing” approach to politics, veteran strategist James Carville told Media Finance Focus conference attendees in May.
The LRFA specifically states that Congress “should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station broadcast over the air.”
The 181 House cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act include (new cosponsors in bold):
Ralph Abraham (R-LA-5)
Alma Adams (D-NC-12)
Rick Allen (R-GA-12)
Mark Amodei (R-NV-2)
Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19)
Brian Babin (R-TX-36)
Don Bacon (R-NE-2)
James Baird (R-IN-4)
Troy Balderston (R-OH-12)
Jim Banks (R-IN-3)
Andy Barr (R-KY-6)
Joyce Beatty (D-OH-3)
Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12)
Mike Bost (R-IL-12)
Brendan Boyle (D-PA-2)
Mo Brooks (R-AL-5)
Susan Brooks (R-IN-5)
Anthony Brown (D-MD-4)
Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16)
Larry Bucshon (R-IN-8)
Ted Budd (R-NC-13)
Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17)
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-1)
Bradley Byrne (R-AL-1)
Ken Calvert (R-CA-42)
Andre Carson (D-IN-7)
Buddy Carter (R-GA-1)
Kathy Castor (D-FL-14)
Steve Chabot (R-OH-1)
Liz Cheney (R-WY-AL)
Lacy Clay (D-MO-1)
Tom Cole (R-OK-4)
Chris Collins (R-NY-27)
James Comer (R-KY-1)
Michael Conaway (R-TX-11)
Paul Cook (R-CA-8)
Jim Costa (D-CA-16)
Joe Courtney (D-CT-2)
Rick Crawford (R-AR-1)
Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28)
John Curtis (R-UT-3)
Warren Davidson (R-OH-8)
Rodney Davis (R-IL-13)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4)
Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12)
Sean Duffy (R-WI-7)
Jeff Duncan (R-SC-3)
Neal Dunn (R-FL-2)
Tom Emmer (R-MN-6)
Dwight Evans (D-PA-3)
Drew Ferguson (R-GA-3)
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1)
Bill Flores (R-TX-17)
Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE-1)
Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5)
Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8)
Greg Gianforte (R-MT-AL)
Bob Gibbs (R-OH-7)
Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH-16)
Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15)
Jennifer Gonzalez Colon (R-PR-DL)
Paul Gosar (R-AZ-4)
Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-5)
Kay Granger (R-TX-12)
Sam Graves (R-MO-6)
Tom Graves (R-GA-14)
Glenn Grothman (R-WI-6)
Michael Guest (R-MS-3)
Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2)
Jim Hagedorn (R-MN-1)
Josh Harder (D-CA-10)
Andy Harris (R-MD-1)
Vicky Hartzler (R-MO-4)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL-20)
Kevin Hern (R-OK-1)
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-3)
Jody Hice (R-GA-10)
French Hill (R-AR-2)
Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN-9)
Richard Hudson (R-NC-8)
Bill Huizenga (R-MI-2)
Bill Johnson (R-OH-6)
Dusty Johnson (R-SD-AL)
Mike Johnson (R-LA-4)
Jim Jordan (R-OH-4)
David Joyce (R-OH-14)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9)
John Katko (R-NY-24)
Bill Keating (D-MA-9)
Mike Kelly (R-PA-16)
Trent Kelly (R-MS-1)
Derek Kilmer (D-WA-6)
Ron Kind (D-WI-3)
Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-16)
Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-2)
Annie Kuster (D-NH-2)
Darin LaHood (R-IL-18)
Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-1)
Doug Lamborn (R-CO-5)
Bob Latta (R-OH-5)
Al Lawson (D-FL-5)
Susie Lee (D-NV-3)
Dave Loebsack (D-IA-2)
Billy Long (R-MO-7)
Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11)
Frank Lucas (R-OK-3)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO-3)
Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM-3)
Stephen Lynch (D-MA-8)
Kenny Marchant (R-TX-24)
Roger Marshall (R-KS-1)
Thomas Massie (R-KY-4)
Betty McCollum (D-MN-4)
Donald McEachin (D-VA-4)
Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10)
David McKinley (R-WV-1)
Mark Meadows (R-NC-11)
Gregory Meeks (D-NY-5)
Daniel Meuser (R-PA-9)
Paul Mitchell (R-MI-10)
Alex Mooney (R-WV-2)
Seth Moulton (D-MA-6)
Markwayne Mullin (R-OK-2)
Dan Newhouse (R-WA-4)
Ralph Norman (R-SC-5)
Devin Nunes (R-CA-22)
Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ-1)
Pete Olson (R-TX-22)
Steven Palazzo (R-MS-4)
Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6)
Chris Pappas (D-NH-1)
Donald Payne (D-NJ-10)
Greg Pence (R-IN-6)
Bill Posey (R-FL-8)
Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS-DL)
Tom Reed (R-NY-23)
Denver Riggleman (R-VA-5)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5)
Hal Rogers (R-KY-5)
Mike Rogers (R-AL-3)
David Rouzer (R-NC-7)
Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-2)
Bobby Rush (D-IL-1)
Tim Ryan (D-OH-13)
David Scott (D-GA-13)
Terri Sewell (D-AL-7)
John Shimkus (R-IL-15)
Mike Simpson (R-ID-2)
Albio Sires (D-NJ-8)
Adrian Smith (R-NE-3)
Chris Smith (R-NJ-4)
Pete Stauber (R-MN-8)
Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21)
Bryan Steil (R-WI-1)
Chris Stewart (R-UT-2)
Steve Stivers (R-OH-15)
Glenn Thompson (R-PA-15)
Mac Thornberry (R-TX-13)
William Timmons (R-SC-4)
Mike Turner (R-OH-10)
Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ-2)
Fred Upton (R-MI-6)
Marc Veasey (D-TX-33)
Filemon Vela (D-TX-34)
Ann Wagner (R-MO-2)
Tim Walberg (R-MI-7)
Greg Walden (R-OR-2)
Mark Walker (R-NC-6)
Jackie Walorski (R-IN-2)
Steve Watkins (R-KS-2)
Randy Weber (R-TX-14)
Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2)
Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4)
Roger Williams (R-TX-25)
Joe Wilson (R-SC-2)
Rob Wittman (R-VA-1)
Steve Womack (R-AR-3)
John Yarmuth (D-KY-3)
Don Young (R-AK-AL)
Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1)
The Local Radio Freedom Act’s 23 Senate cosponsors are (new cosponsor in bold):
John Barrasso (R-WY)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Mike Braun (R-IN)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
Steve Daines (R-MT)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Cory Gardner (R-CO)
John Hoeven (R-ND)
Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Tom Udall (D-CO)
Todd Young (R-IN)
