Kathy Castor’s perennial support of the “Local Radio Freedom Act” has once again drawn the ire of performers and music industry groups.
Castor represents the 14th District covering much of Tampa.
She’s being criticized for introducing legislation that would protect radio conglomerates like iHeartMedia, Cox, and Beasley—which combined makeup roughly 85% of local radio stations in Tampa Bay—from paying “new performance fees or taxes” to performers whose music gets played on broadcast radio.
In a letter to Castor, Jorge Brea—CEO of Tampa-based Symphonic Distribution—wrote that, “In 2019 alone radio sold $17 billion worth ads yet they did not pay a cent to performers for the use of their recordings.”
According to Brea, that’s because legislators have continually denied performers that right.
“As a result, your constituents who support their families playing music are suffering more than they should be during the pandemic,” Brea added. “Broadcasters refuse to play by the same rules that apply to SiriusXM, Pandora, Apple Music, and Spotify, all of whom pay recording artists for the use of their work.”
Publishers and artists are currently compensated by streaming services like Spotify (in an admittedly complicated process), but royalties are trickier when it comes to radio since airplay is considered a public performance. Public performance royalties are collected by a “Performing Rights Organization” or PRO on behalf of songwriters, but in the U.S., FM and AM terrestrial stations only pay the songwriters via previous agreements with their PRO groups. Performers and sound recording copyright owners are not paid by terrestrial broadcasters.
The most rudimentary example of this is “…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears which was written exclusively by Max Martin. Spears receives zero royalties everytime that song was played on the radio in the late-’90s, but Martin does. But not every performer is Britney Spears who could arguably afford to surrender radio play royalties thanks to her many other lucrative touring and marketing deals.
In his letter to Castor, Brea noted that the corporate broadcasters who advocate for the Local Radio Freedom Act say the legislation is supposed to “protect independent, local radio stations.”
“But true local radio barely exists anymore, thanks to shameful deregulation and harmful consolidation,” Brea noted, adding that the big radio conglomerates which control AM and FM dials also laid off thousands of local radio personalities.
Of note is that in the 2020 cycle, iHeartRadio and National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) donated $10,000 each to Castor. In fact, both iHeart and NAB donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to legislators on both sides of the aisle.
Resolutions supporting the act have been introduced in some form or another since at least 2007. Even the historically corrupt Recording Industry Association of America (responsible for the Grammy awards) even calls the “Local Radio Freedom Act” a sham.
“Massive radio corporations earn billions in advertising revenue from the work of countless performers and recording artists, who don't earn a single cent for the usage of their work,” the Academy wrote. “For 100 years, American artists have earned nothing for music played on radio across the U.S., and if corporate radio has its way in Washington, they’ll keep the royalty rate at $0.00.”
In an email to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Rep. Castor said she is “proud to support our local radio stations who provide essential services to so many across the Tampa Bay area, particularly during natural disasters and the current pandemic.”
“The Local Radio Freedom Act is a non-binding resolution that reaffirms Congress's support for local radio stations and opposes new fees or taxes on local, free, broadcast radio which could jeopardize those very services upon which so many rely,” Castor added.
But the MusicFIRST Coalition says Castor and the Local Radio Freedom Act’s House co-sponsor, Steve Womack (R-Ark.) are also circulating a letter from them but crafted by the NAB. The letter urges Castor and Womack’s colleagues to support the resolution. MusicFIRST calls the “Dear Colleague” letter “a clever trick to deny justice for artists and labels seeking to be paid when their music is played on FM/AM radio.”
The group even released an annotated version of the “Dear Colleague” letter signed by Castor.
Castor did not respond to a CL inquiry about the “Dear Colleague” letter she sent or say whether or not she would take a meeting with Brea from Symphonic Distribution.
NAB called MusicFIRST’s claim “an insult” to lawmakers supporting the resolution.
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This article appears in May 13-19, 2021.