Chris Bell’s Weblog

The Performance Rights Act

// April 19th, 2008 // General

Here is some important information on The Performance Rights Act. For those of you who don’t know about this please read and go to the link provided. 

 

Attached is a short bullet point description of the Performance Rights Act (PRA), a bill which was recently introduced to both houses of Congress, along with an ad for the PRA sponsored by the musicFIRST Coalition. This important piece of legislation would reverse a great injustice and is relevant to music producers for several reasons. It needs your support.

 

The lobbyists for over-the-air, broadcast radio(also called terrestrial radio)have plenty of money to oppose this legislation and they are fighting hard to make sure that the PRA doesn’t pass. They claim that the promotion radio provides to songs by playing them is compensation enough, and that artists don’t need to be paid for their performances. They are also claiming that the payments this bill would require broadcasters to make are a new “tax,” which is completely false. It is a payment to music creators, not a tax payment to the government.

 

The Recording Academy has taken a leadership role in passing this legislation.  It is a founding member of the musicFIRST Coalition with a seat on its Executive Board.  Passage of the PRA will be difficult, but it is the right thing to do.

 

How does The Performance Rights Act help music producers? Just as with current SoundExchange royalties for Internet and satellite radio, producers may be entitled to royalties (depending on their contract). There is even a possibility that the process could be streamlined for producers in the terrestrial rights. In these difficult times for the music business, opening a new stream of income for artists (that will take nothing away from songwriters and publishers) can only help increase the amount of money available to pay producers. And as members of the recording community, it is important for us to support fairness for all music creators.

 

Please let your congressional representatives know that you support the Performance Rights Act. It’s easy: go to <http://www.grammy.com/musicfirst> enter your 9-digit zip code and you can send an email (already drafted or write your own) to your representatives. Thank you.