The Record Industry: Still assholes

So the radio broadcasters of America have done pretty well for both themselves, and the music industry over the years. Curiously, the AM and FM radio stations do not pay royalties -- I assume this is some vestige of the early days of radio, where both industries were primarily interested in screwing performers and creators, so they made a tacit agreement to label radio as "promotional".

But now the record industry is going looking for new revenue, and the AM/FM broadcasters look plump and juicy.

On Monday, the recording industry sent the National Association of Broadcasters -- the trade group representing the $16 billion a year AM-FM broadcasting business -- a can of herring to underscore that it believes its arguments against paying royalties are a red herring. The NAB says its members should not pay royalties because AM-FM radio "promotes" the music industry.

The herring present followed another gift -- a dictionary, a bid by the recording industry to explain what it saw as the difference between fees and taxes. The NAB describes the latest royalty proposal as a tax.

And two weeks ago, the recording industry, under the umbrella group musicFIRST, sent the NAB four digital downloads: "Take the Money and Run" by the Steve Miller Band; "Pay me My Money Down" by Bruce Springsteen; "Back In the U.S.S.R" by Paul McCartney and "A Change Would Do You Good" by Sheryl Crow.

In case you missed it, the record industry just called the radio industry a bunch of Communists, for adhering to the status quo. Time was, you actually had to have a revolution and nationalize property to be a Marxist. Now all you've got to do is abide by long-held agreements.

Not that I'll shed any tears for the radio broadcasters -- they've spent the last decade screwing Internet radio as hard as they can, so I'll be happy when this entire sick, sordid industry collapses in on itself.

Comments

[MikeJ]

Don't pay royalties? Ha! They pay performance royalties, just not mechanicals. Mecahnicals are paid for reproductions of music (like for each disk). Performance royalties are paid to ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC. The performance royalties are (I forget exactly) in the neighborhood of 1.5 to 2% of revenue off the top.

Here's the real difference: the artist or composer gets the bucks from ASCAP. The labels will pick up a big chunk of the mechanicals. Well, the "copyright holder", who will in most cases with a major, be the label not the artist. And Harry Fox will make a mint collecting and passing out that 7.1 cents per play.

[Corvus9]

Great. Even more commercials when I am driving to work.

[low-tech cyclist]

Not that I'll shed any tears for the radio broadcasters -- they've spent the last decade screwing Internet radio as hard as they can, so I'll be happy when this entire sick, sordid industry collapses in on itself.

I won't shed any tears for Clear Channel and the other big boys. But if my local indie station gets caught in the crossfire, I'm gonna be pretty upset.

[C.S.]

Your local indie station sucks.

[Matt Weiner]

Can of herring? Cheapskates. The original red herring was a good smoked herring.

...and yeah, what fratboy assholes.