[78-L] This Will Make Radio Even MORE Dead

[Kristjan Saag]

I wrote:

> Broadcasters play music to attract audiences. Advertisers like audiences 
> and
> pay the broadcasters for the right to advertise. Therefore broadcasters
> should pay the musicians for the right to use their music.
> If this logic is too difficult for US broadcasters I wouldn't lament the 
> end of terrestrial
> music radio in the US. Let's just hope the endless talk shows will focus 
> on ethical issues
> now and then - like the eighth commandment, for
> instance.

Uncle Dave Lewis replied:

Thank you, Kristjan, for your typically European contempt of us. (; As 
someone who actively works on programming music fo terrestrial radio in the 
US, I would lament it. And as there's Rush "Boss" Limbaugh over here, I 
seriously doubt that the ethical issues that you envision will get much 
airplay.
The letter from the Grammys is kind of interesting in that it makes specific 
mention of "closing the loophole;" I wasn't aware that there was a loophole 
to be closed. There have been significant skirmishes over the years in 
regard to radio and rights administration, going back at least to when Fred 
Waring cancelled his lucrative contract with RCA Victor in order to 
discourage unscrupulous broadcasters from fabricating radio broadcasts out 
of his commercial recordings. However, since at least the 1950s the record 
industry, at least, has depended so much on the exposure that radio provided 
they did not press the rights issue. Now that times are hard, the music 
industry wants to pass on the pain, and while I'm not surprised that they 
would want to take this measure, I do believe that most radio concerns just 
won't want to pony up for it; they haven't had to in more than 80 years. 
It's easier just to go to an all-talk format.

---
No, Dave, no contempt.
US copyright legislation is, as we all know, much more restrictive than the 
European, even if lobbying goes on, and probably will succeed, to copy the 
US model here in Europe.
But the performance rights issue has lagged behind in the US and put the 
States in the same league as China and North Korea, which should be 
humiliating for all parts. It definitely doesn't correspond to my 
expectations of where the US should be.
I also work with music in terrestrial radio in Europe and report music 
played to the Swedish part of CISAC (your ASCAP etc) who also administer the 
reports for the Swedish Federations of Musicians (and IFPI). I'm proud to do 
that and that my broadcasting company is willing to give artists, 
songwriters, composers, even record companies their share of the cake. Of 
course there are broadcasting companies here, both in radio and television, 
who battle with the artists and composers' organizations for better deals, 
and even Swedish Radio, which is a public service station, tries to save a 
few thousands of Crowns each day broadcasting live classical music (concert 
recordings made within the European Broadcasting Union) during the night.
But the general understanding is to pay for airplay, no matter how many free 
CD's the record companies send out for promotion (a dwindling routine these 
days, though).
As for talk radio: it may be that some music stations will have to close 
down or choose to change format because of a Performance Rights Act, but so 
what? The serious ones will survive, and a world with mainly talk radio 
would soon call for more music stations. Which the advertisers will be the 
first to notice. And that's where the dough is, at least in the US.
Kristjan