Congress moved a step closer to ending a decades-long injustice against music creators with today’s Senate introduction of the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA). The legislation, sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), would require broadcast corporations to pay performance royalties to creators for AM/FM radio plays. An identical bill (HR 4130) has already been introduced and received a hearing in the House, setting Congress up for action this summer and fall.
Musicians and vocalists do not receive a single cent when their recordings are broadcast on American AM/FM radio stations. Incredibly, the United States is the only industrialized nation besides North Korea and Iran that has no law requiring a broadcast performance royalty for sound recordings to be paid to artists, musicians, and singers.
The American Music Fairness Act is designed to remedy that and provide royalty payments to artists, session musicians, and vocalists when their recordings are broadcast over AM and FM radio.
This is OUR bill. The AFM worked closely with the MusicFIRST Coalition and members of Congress to help craft this bill designed with your concerns in mind as a musician.
It’s time to end the loophole that has allowed Big Radio to rob artists of their fair share for far too long.
In Unity,
Ray Hair
AFM International President
Sent via ActionNetwork.org.
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