KISS frontman Gene Simmons has urged the US Congress to pass a bill that would require US broadcast radio stations to pay royalties for the use of recordings for the first time.
“American artists have never been paid for radio airplay. Not one cent,” Simmons said in prepared remarks in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on intellectual property on Tuesday (December 9).
“Let me say that again: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks, George Strait – none of them ever got a royalty check when their songs played on the radio. Meanwhile, radio made $14 billion this year.”
The US has long followed a practice under which broadcast radio stations pay music publishers and songwriters for the use of a composition, but they don’t pay artists and producers for the use of a recording. That sets the US apart from most developed countries, where terrestrial radio stations pay for both compositions and recordings.
It also stands in stark contrast to other music media, such as streaming services and satellite radio, which do pay for recordings in the US.
“They play our songs. People tune in to hear our songs. Advertisers pay big money to reach those listeners. And the artists who created the music that makes it all work? They get bupkis. I don’t know about you, but where I come from, that’s called robbery,” Simmons said.
“American artists have never been paid for radio airplay. Not one cent.”
Gene Simmons
Simmons appeared in front of the committee in support of the American Music Fairness Act, a proposed law that had stalled in previous congressional sessions and was reintroduced in Congress this past January by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, and Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican.
The bill would establish a performance right for recordings played on terrestrial radio, mandating that artists, performers, producers and others involved in the creation of a recording be paid a fair market rate for radio airplay.
At times Simmons strayed from his prepared remarks, declaring that “if you are against this bill, you are un-American,” and adding, per Rolling Stone: “Our emissaries to the world are Elvis and Frank Sinatra. And when they find out we’re not treating our stars right — in other words, worse than slaves; slaves get food and water. Elvis and Sinatra and Bing Crosby got nothing for their performance. You’ve got to change this now.”
Simmons, who just this past Sunday received Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, DC, along with his KISS bandmates. appeared in the Senate alongside Michael Huppe, President and CEO of digital performance royalty collection org SoundExchange, who urged Congress “to finally close this glaring loophole in our copyright law which has been giving one of the oldest music delivery platforms a free ride for far too long.”
“We are in the company of the most notorious abusers of property rights in the world – joining North Korea, Iran, and Cuba.”
Michael Huppe, SoundExchange
Huppe noted that the current practice puts the US in bad company.
“Even Russia and China pay,” he said. “We are in the company of the most notorious abusers of property rights in the world – joining North Korea, Iran, and Cuba.”
The Recording Academy, which has thrown its weight behind the bill, notes that “when American music is played overseas, other countries collect royalties for American artists – approximately $200 million annually – but never pay those royalties because the US does not reciprocate with our own performance right.”
The bill is currently under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee and has yet to come to a vote. Simmons told the subcommittee that he’s “confident” President Donald Trump will sign it into law if it passes through the Senate and House.Music Business Worldwide
