I'm not sure where this comes from, but Silicon Alley Insider quotes Tom Waits saying in an article about a bill before the American Congress which would make radio makers pay higher royalties to artists: 'It's just plain wrong for radio to be allowed to build profitable businesses with growing revenues on the backs of artists and musicians without paying them fairly for it.'
UPDATE: A Reuters newswire has some more background on this and makes it more clear where this quote comes from. Tom Waits is a founding member of the musicFIRST Coalition, an organisation supporting compensation for artists whose work is broadcast.
1 comment:
Interesting article. Will it really help the artists though? Don't most major labels own the rights to artists' songs? If they do, maybe artists will see labels make even more $$ off their songs and they will switch to smaller independent labels. In the internet age, who the hell needs a major label?
I agree at one time radio served an important marketing outlet, which is why the rights owner wasn't compensated for a play. But that is no longer the case. And now, the artists/labels have all the power. What are the radio stations going to do, stop playing music?
Anyhow, there should be a law that terrestrial radio, satellite radio, and web radio all have the same deal with artists/labels. Right now the owner of a song doesn't get paid if it is played on terrestrial radio, but does get paid if it is played on web radio. It should be consistent through a "most favored nations" clause in the law.
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