Resolving The Radio/ RIAA Impasse
April 22nd, 2010 | 
Author: 
In his blog today, Jerry Del Colliano offers his solution to the radio/RIAA Performance Rights Act standoff:
“1.Agree upon a very, very small fee for radio stations and guarantee the rate for the next seven years. Of course, you’ll never get the seven years but start low and give an increase — a small one — at one or two points along the way.
2. Local, independent operators (mom and pops), the real heart of local radio, should be totally exempt from any fees. I believe this can be negotiated in. Local operators are helping their communities and local and regional economies, they deserve a break. This is the strongest argument for local radio — where local radio actually exists — and this is the workaround.
3. Radio groups operating under 30 total stations should get an additional break no matter what market they are in because 30 stations constitutes a small group by today’s consolidated radio numbers. The number 30 can be 40, or 50 — it’s negotiable.
4. Large consolidators like Clear Channel, Citadel, Cumulus and others should pay the highest fee — but even that should be comparably low. Remember, the music industry just wants to get rid of the performance exemption so it can raise these percentages as soon as possible. Their compromise might have to be accepting pennies on the dollar for the first seven years.
5. This is a must and only a fool would knowingly agree to pay additional music royalty taxes for terrestrial radio without it. Radio stations would be exempt from paying these charges for their podcasting or online streaming of programming that is separate and apart from their terrestrial radio signal. The future is mobile Internet and as a result, this is the concession that radio operators need to get a leg up on the new frontier. The radio industry can argue, okay — you get some music royalties for terrestrial radio under certain circumstances but you give us music in this new space for free while we take the next seven years to build the podcasting and mobile and streaming businesses. It will be worth even more to you when we use our know-how to build these platforms and you can get a royalty on them as well later.”
You can read Jerry’s full blog at http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/radio-royalty-solution.html
Posted in Online Media, Politics, Social media | 
Tags: Congress, Jerry Del Colliano, musicFIRST, Performance Rights Act, radio
Audience Development Group’s Tim Moore includes this analogy in his blog about the Performance Rights Act:
“your neighbor asks to for a ride each morning so that he can go to work. You oblige since he makes good company and offers to share fuel expense. This bon accord lasts for years, until one day his lawyer commences action against you in order to retrieve his contributed gas money.
If indeed radio is under an obligation to further compensate performers and labels, why not formally introduce a pay-for-play system much like major brands compete for shelf space at Kroger or Wal-Mart? If a new artist seeks incubation on a station with a weekly cume of a million listeners, their fees for exposure would be pegged to the size and conversion of that station’s listeners to quarter hours. If a smaller artist or label can’t pay the freight, they simply don’t get incubation. This would be above board of course and resemble the exchange taking place daily in retail environments. Indeed if the performance tax comes to pass, perhaps every music station in America would only mention the title and artist if compensated. If not, listeners would simply need to guess ‘who sang that song?’
Question: How would the Beatles have forged a legacy (much less billions of dollars of royalties), without radio? How would labels like RCA, Columbia, Capitol or Warner Brothers ever have amassed fortunes without KHJ, WABC, or WLS?
And what helped boutique labels survive, then thrive in the early years? Motown, Island, Asylum and countless others found their way into the light riding the early FM wave with KVIL, WRIF, or KBCO?”
You can read Tim’s full comments at http://www.AudienceDevelopmentGroup.com