Washington, DC, February 29, 2024 – Following the the release of iHeartMedia’s 2023 financial results, Senator Mark Pryor, Chairman of the musicFIRST Coalition, issued the following statement:
“As iHeartMedia touted its financial performance and resilience to investors on today’s earnings call, CEO Bob Pittman left out one important detail: Namely, that the broadcasting giant continues to deny payment to the music artists whose work underpins their entire business model.
No matter how much money iHeart makes, if they are given the opportunity to stiff artists, they will. Big Radio broadcasters have been doing it for decades, and last year was no different. Approximately 43 million songs were played across iHeart’s 700 stations in 2023, fueling listenership and, in turn, significant advertising revenue. Yet, not a single performing artist was paid for the use of their songs on iHeart’s AM/FM stations, nor have they ever been.
The idea that artists should be paid for the use of their work on any platform, including AM/FM radio, is not novel. Every other democratic nation already recognizes this concept. The United States joins Iran and North Korea as the few countries that refuse to pay artists AM/FM performance royalties.
To change the company we stand with on this issue, we must close the loophole that has allowed corporate broadcasters to perpetrate this injustice against artists for so long. The American Music Fairness Act is a bipartisan piece of legislation that would do just that. Its commonsense approach has gained the support of artists, labor unions, and community broadcasters alike. And now, it’s time to pass it into law.”
For more information, please visit the musicFIRST website at www.musicfirstcoalition.org and follow the coalition on Twitter at @musicFIRST.
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About musicFIRST
musicFIRST works to ensure music creators get fair pay for their work on all platforms and wherever and however it is played. We rally the people and organizations who make and love music to end the broken status quo that allows AM/FM to use any song ever recorded without paying its performers a dime. And to stand up for fair pay on digital radio — and whatever comes next.
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