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Record Labels Trying To Slip Costs To Radio

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By CATHY ROUGHT

Published: November 9, 2007

I find it curious that record labels are suddenly concerned about compensation for performers (Our Opinion, Nov. 2)! For decades, labels have given pennies on the dollar to struggling artists who had little leverage at the bargaining table. Would it be too obvious to suggest that record labels open their own checkbooks and compensate their artists fairly before asking Congress to mandate a new fee on radio stations? Considering, of course, 50 percent of the new fee would conveniently go to the labels, not the artists.

The Nov. 2 editorial on the expansion of performance rights ended with "the artists ... deserve to be paid." But record labels, not local radio, should be the ones held accountable for compensating their artists.

If you have missed this arcane but serious debate, the record labels have been pushing Congress to pass a performance tax - a tax that has been projected to be as high as $2 billion to $7 billion and that would be assessed on your local radio stations. For decades, radio has given record labels and artists free promotion valued in the hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars, resulting in revenues from record and CD sales, concert tickets and merchandise for both the performing artists and the label.

Simply type the words "label" and "contract dispute" into a search engine, and you will see how the record labels have routinely dealt with artists. Few artists have much good to say about their record labels. Artists like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Madonna have begun to buck the system and forge ahead without a label because they realize they can do better using other distribution chains.

Whereas record labels are only concerned with a bottom line, local radio does more than just play music - radio stations are part of your community. Local radio stations provide you with local news, traffic, weather and information routinely every day and in times of crisis. During Hurricane Katrina and the California wildfires, local radio stations were the lifeline to higher ground, resources and safety. Nonprofit organizations, community groups and others that help underserved communities can also attest to the value of radio in their lives, as many have benefited from public service announcements and donated airtime that would have been unaffordable otherwise. In 2005 alone, the average radio station ran 169 public service announcements per week, with a projected value of $5.05 billion in donated airtime.

The labels have done a good job of marching out financially struggling artists, but in reality, who made them "starving artists" to begin with? Don't be fooled by the record labels and their attempt to deepen their pockets - support artists by supporting local radio.

Cathy Rought is a member of the Free Radio Alliance, a coalition of more than 200 members that include radio broadcasters, nonprofit organizations, the hospitality industry and ethnic think tanks. The group was formed to oppose the performance fee.

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