Musicians Needed on Hill to Increase Involvement in Licensing Debate, Advocates Say
Musician advocates urged fellow recording artists to become more active on licensing issues on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Content Creators Coalition Executive Director Jeffrey Boxer and others pinpointed the need for more musician backing of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733). “If you're sitting here and you're saying 'I need a takeaway,'” from the event, "we need letters" sent to the House Judiciary Committee in favor of HR-1733, Boxer said during a Future of Music Coalition (FMC)-Georgetown University event. HR-1733 would require terrestrial radio stations to begin paying performance royalties and would require digital broadcasters to begin paying royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings. The bill also would require satellite broadcasters to pay royalties at market rates (see 1504130056 and 1504160050).
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Support for HR-1733 is basically a “litmus test” for support of musicians' rights, Boxer said. “We're dealing with a lot of vested interests” in the ongoing debate over music licensing issues, including whether to require terrestrial performance royalties, he said. The American Federation of Music (AFM) and Featured Artists Coalition also support HR-1733, said AFM Local 802 Vice President-Elect Andy Schwartz and FAC CEO Paul Pacifico separately. “We need a legislative environment that levels the playing field,” Pacifico said.
NAB, which has actively opposed HR-1733 and other legislation to require terrestrial performance royalties, “has its tentacles everywhere but friends nowhere,” Boxer said. "Musicians, on the other hand, have friends everywhere," with support and opposition to HR-1733 not falling along party lines. Some Republicans view the bill "as a quality of life initiative," Boxer said. NAB has been touting its backing of the Local Radio Freedom Act (House Concurrent Resolution-17/Senate Concurrent Resolution-4). The association noted last week that the resolution has the backing of a majority of House members and 23 co-sponsors in the Senate.
It's important to “reach across boundaries and find common ground” on music licensing issues to increase support for legislation like HR-1733, said FMC Communications and Outreach Manager Kevin Erickson. FMC has aimed to gain support for HR-1733 and similar bills by reaching out to a wide range of stakeholders rather than just entities that FMC agrees with on a broader set of issues, Erickson said. “That's how you get stuff done in Washington.” FMC similarly worked with multiple groups it had little in common with when it opposed the failed Comcast/Time Warner Cable combination earlier this year, including the Parents' Television Council, Erickson said.
Other legislation is also needed to address music licensing issues, including the Songwriter Equity Act (HR-1283/S-662), said Songwriters Guild of America President Rick Carnes during a separate session at the FMC event. “We need to do everything we can” to improve the balance in the royalties process, he said. That includes urging passage of bills like HR-1283/S-662 and advocating for the Department of Justice to modify its consent decrees against the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc., Carnes said.