Should Terrestrial Radio Stations Pay Labels and Artists for Music?
Terrestrial radio no longer seems to wield the promotional force it used to, when airplay was the key to album sales (compensating labels), and tour receipts (compensating artists). Now that webcasters and satellite radio stations have been brought to heel by the Copyright Royalty Board and forced to pay royalties to SoundExchange (which distributes the royalties among their member labels and artists) a label-backed bill has surfaced in Congress that would force AM and FM stations to pay up as well. Broadcasters have backed another bill, the Local Radio Freedom Act, which would allow radio stations to continue playing music without compensating artists. What do you think?
