Country star Randy Travis gushed over members of Congress and brought star power to an otherwise business-like hearing titled “Radio, Music and Copyright: 100 Years of Inequality for Recording Artists,” held Wednesday (June 26) by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
“This is a great honor,” he said Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the subcommittee, adding that the other three witnesses “will have to live in his shadow.”
Travis, who has struggled to speak since suffering a stroke in 2013, was represented at the hearing by his wife, Mary Travis. His circumstances made him a suitable witness and supporter of the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA), a bill that would create a fair performance for terrestrial radio recordings. Unable to sing, Travis has given up touring and relies on royalties for his long-term health care. A country artist who performed other people's compositions would benefit from royalties from continued airplay on terrestrial radio.
“This bill is necessary to correct the 100-year-old problem of artists not being paid for their work performed on the most important music platform in America – a platform they helped build and sustain,” said Mary Travis.
AMFA would set fair market value for radio performance rights similar to how prices are set for streaming platforms. It also forces foreign radio stations to pay US-based artists to perform their songs. Outside the US, radio stations typically avoid paying performance royalties to American artists and labels, despite the existence of similar acts in those countries.
The bill would task the Copyright Commission, the three-judge body that sets royalty rates for streaming, satellite radio and mechanical rights, to set royalty rates for the new license. According to AMFA, stations that earn less than $1.5 million in annual revenue (and whose parent companies have less than $10 million in annual revenue) pay $500 annually. Small, non-commercial stations with annual revenue of less than $100,000 would pay just $10 a year.
“I think you've got the balance just right,” Mike Huppe, president and CEO of SoundExchange, told committee members. While small broadcasters would pay modest fees under AMFA, the large national companies that dominate the broadcasting industry would pay more. Huppe argued that they could easily afford it. “This is a $15 billion business in the US,” he said. “Eighty-eight percent of all Americans listen to the radio. The biggest broadcasting groups are getting bigger and stronger.”
However, radio stations don't see it that way. Curtis LeGate, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, warned the committee that any additional rights would be excessive. “AMFA will impose a new royalty on local radio that is financially untenable for broadcasters of all sizes,” he said. Eddie Harrell Jr, Radio One's regional vice president and general manager, agreed. “Make no mistake that a new performance right imposed on local stations would harm local stations, listeners and the recording industry itself,” Harrell said. Local broadcasters, he said, are “operating on extremely tight margins at the moment”.
The most dire warnings from LeGeyt and Harrell often focused on AMFA's threat to radio stations' ability to serve their communities. Because the stations' revenue isn't growing, Harrell explained, any additional spending threatens the services the stations provide to their communities — he mentioned a program that collects items for needy families — and undermines their ability to broadcast during natural disasters. “Those are the things that get lost in what we do as opposed to just playing the music and so our ability to lead such community efforts would be affected by any new expense that we would have to endure.”
While Huppe acknowledged the value radio stations provide to their communities, he questioned why musicians should not be paid when stations pay to syndicate radio shows and license sporting events. “Why should Randy Travis be the one to carry the burden of this community effort and all the charity work?” Hipp asked.
The threat of artificial intelligence to the music industry has interfered with the debate about royalties and performance rights. Travis has proven to be an excellent witness in this regard as well, having recently released his first new track since his 2013 stroke, “Where That Came From,” with the help of artificial intelligence software being created to recreate his voice. (Issa paused for a minute to play the song over the speakers by tapping his smartphone next to his microphone.) “His work with artificial intelligence was humanistic and artistic,” said Mary Travis. “And that's the difference [between] good and bad AI.”
When asked by Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) whether users of artificial intelligence software could create unauthorized copies of a singer's voice, Mary Travis was succinct: “Absolutely not,” she said flatly. Later, he compared the unauthorized use of an artist's voice to identity theft. “There needs to be laws to prevent that from happening,” he said, “which means consent and compensation, attribution and provenance.”
But the hearing focused mostly on the finances of the radio business and the two sides' inability to reach an agreement. Huppe said the NAB's strategy “is to run out the clock” and wait for another bill to be introduced in the next session of Congress. LeGeyt took “significant issue” with Huppe's characterization and accused record industry representatives of not supporting the talks. “NAB is willing to be in a conference room,” he said.
However, representative Issa doubted LeGeyt's willingness to sign a record deal. Noting that NAB has negotiated on Radio One's behalf, Rep. Issa asked Harrell if his stations “would be willing to pay something to solve this problem?” “Mr. President, I wouldn't say that,” Harrell replied.
Minutes later, Issa struck a warning tone with LeGeyt. NAB didn't offer “one penny” of higher royalties in their negotiations, Issa claimed, and if artists started encouraging people to listen to the radio station's streaming alone, the cost to stations would be “far more than a moderate concession”. Isa said.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/randy-travis-radio-house-hearing-testimony-american-music-fairness-act/
