Corporate broadcasters keep crowing about their profits to Wall Street.
Why won’t they pay the artists whose music makes them possible?
Washington, DC, November 3, 2022 – Following the the release of iHeartMedia’s Q3 earnings, Congressman Joe Crowley, Chairman of the musicFIRST Coalition, issued the following statement:
“It’s no surprise that Greedy Broadcasters are celebrating today. Once again, Big Radio broadcasting corporations like iHeartRadio and Cumulus are crowing to investors about their continued growth and profits. What they fail to mention is that these profits are made possible by the artists who fill their airwaves and attract advertisers. No matter how many billions of dollars broadcasters rake in each quarter, they continue claiming they aren’t able to give music performers a single penny of the compensation they fairly deserve.
And now they are misusing their government-granted airwaves to run false and misleading ads attacking a common sense solution that would close the legal loophole that allows them to continue this unjust practice. It’s funny how this fact did not come up in their rosy reports to Wall Street this week.
It’s long past time for this rigged game to end. By swiftly passing the American Music Fairness Act — a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation supported by 70% of Americans — Congress can ensure that Big Radio finally plays by the same rules as everyone else and pays artists for their work.”
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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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