Pay for play - performance royalties & radio

In the US, performers do not receive royalties for their recordings that radio stations broadcast over the air - unlike in Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Last week, on July 31, the MusicFIRST coalition (more than 150 recording artists and nearly a dozen organizations including the American Association of Independent Music and SoundExchange) kicked off an attempt to convince Congress to eliminate the exemption for terrestrial radio broadcasters.

In every other developed country worldwide, copyright law grants performers (artists, musicians, and vocalists) and producers (copyright owners such as record companies) as well as songwriters and publishers the right to receive royalties for the public performance of their recordings and compositions. And in most countries, those that broadcast sound recordings via digital and analog transmissions are required to license and pay to play that music. But in the United Stated, only digital broadcasters have that requirement.

Obviously there are two sides to this argument - and a sudden change in the copyright structure for radio broadcasters would have consequences, in some cases very serious ones. But at the same time, performers who do not write songs but help make them hits should receive something when radio broadcasts the song they recorded.