I found a great article in the Los Angeles Times regarding this new bill. The article is titled: “Fair Play, Fair Pay Act of 2015 would require radio to pay for music”. The author is Randy Lewis, one of LA Times reporters. Here is the link: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-fair-play-fair-pay-act-congress-radio-royalties-20150413-story.html
At first, it seemed as though the author was against the bill, but as I kept reading I felt otherwise. The author is simply showing you both sides of the argument, paragraph by paragraph. At the very end, he states how the US economy has lost millions or more a year because of radio not paying royalties on music. Based on his conclusion, I say this author is in favor of the bill.
If the bill does in deed pass there are great benefits involved. The obvious reason is of course that the artist will be paid for their work. After all, they created a product that they meant to sell, not give away for free. Lewis (2015) gives a great quote from Michael Huppe, CEO of SoundExchange, saying how if it weren’t for the artist’s music, the radio stations would have nothing to play but static. The US economy would also benefit from this bill passing, as foreign countries would finally agree to pay royalties to US musicians for radio airplay. They currently are not agreeing to pay because radio stations in America do not (Lewis, 2015). Naturally no one wants to give money and not receive money.
There are harmful things that can come from this bill passing as well. For one thing, this could cause a loss in jobs, as smaller radio stations would be forced to shut down (Lewis, 2015). Radio stations only make money from advertising and fundraising. If huge royalty fees are added, these stations won’t have the money to pay them. Which leads me to consider the other negative of charging the listener. This bill passing could mean that we as consumers now have to pay a monthly subscription fee to listen to any radio station (digital or traditional).
Concluding with my opinion on the issue, I am actually in favor of the bill. For me it boils down to, this is the future of music. It’s part of the digital revolution. People nowadays are streaming music anyways. I believe we will no longer buy music individually and only pay monthly for a music service. At that moment royalties will definitely have to be paid to artists. Otherwise their music would be 100% free, and we all know that will never happen.
References
Lewis, R. (2015, April 13). Fair Play, Fair Pay Act of 2015 would require radio to pay for music. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 1, 2015, fromhttp://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-fair-play-fair-pay-act-congress-radio-royalties-20150413-story.html
