Government Economist Reports
– Recording artists left in the lurch as radio refuses to pay for sound recordings –
WASHINGTON, November 9, 2007 – As the radio industry has undergone unprecedented consolidation, with a 39 percent decline in the number of radio owners over the past 11 years, the overall cost of radio advertising has nearly doubled over the same period, far outpacing increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
This news – outlined in a report released by George Williams, senior economist with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – comes as musicFIRST
(Fairness in Radio Starting Today), a coalition of more than 160 artists and 12 music community organizations, is trying to convince Congress to finally plug a loophole in federal law that allows radio to get away with playing copyrighted music without paying performers and copyright owners.
“What people don’t realize is that 99 percent of the people who make money from music are not household names. They are club acts, mid-tier and emerging artists, background musicians, orchestras, studio musicians and others who struggle to make ends meet,”said Tom Lee, international president of the American Federation of Musicians.
