Quick Action

Contact Congress

MENU

musicFIRST Launches “12 Days of Artists Getting Scrooged” Holiday Campaign

13 December 2023

iHeartRadio’s ‘Holiday Station Flip’ Means Millions for Broadcasters, Coal for Performers

Washington, DC, December 13, 2023musicFIRST — the voice for fairness and equity for music creators — announced the launch of the “12 Days of Artists Getting Scrooged” holiday campaign on Wednesday. The new effort, which will play out across the coalition’s social media channels between now and Christmas Eve, will highlight 12 timeless holidays songs that have been made popular by a variety of artists who haven’t received a dime from the Big Radio broadcasters who profit off their work all season long.

Every year, iHeartRadio converts approximately 85 of its stations to exclusively play holiday music beginning in mid-November. With holiday music filling these airwaves 24/7, roughly a million songs will be played on iHeart stations throughout the season — and just like the other 11 months of the year, the corporate behemoth won’t pay the artists behind that music for the use of their sound recordings.

“There’s nothing I love more than a good Christmas story, but the one about ‘The Broadcaster Who Stole Christmas’ is a yuletide yarn that has an unjust ending for music artists,” said Senator Mark Pryor, Co-Chairman of the musicFIRST Coalition. “By catering to Americans’ love of holiday tunes, iHeart gets more listeners and advertising revenue in their already bulging stocking — but the performers who made it all possible get nothing but coal. Even Scrooge himself couldn’t have conceived of such an over-the-top display of miserly greed in his wildest dreams.”

This year has brought a new example that illustrates how Big Radio’s selfishness impacts the artists who make our favorite holiday songs: On December 4, Brenda Lee’s beloved seasonal classic “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time ever, 65 years after its release. But despite the track spending decades in regular radio rotation on stations owned by iHeart and other big corporations, Ms. Lee has never been paid a single penny by the broadcasters who profit off her iconic vocal performance, while the songwriter Johnny Marks has (rightfully) received a royalty for every spin.

This is not a new problem. As far back as 1988, Frank Sinatra — whose rendition of ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ has attracted radio listeners for more than 60 years — called out the injustice of performers not being compensated by broadcasters for the use of their sound recordings. 

Thankfully, the bipartisan American Music Fairness Act is poised to finish the fight Sinatra started by requiring AM/FM radio to do the right thing and compensate artists for their work, while also protecting truly local radio stations by capping their fees to $10-$500 a year for unlimited music. 

“Big Radio’s heart has been three sizes too small for decades. It’s long past time for iHeart and their fellow broadcasters to stop grinchily hoarding all that silver and gold and share some with the artists whose songs make the holidays merry and bright for their listeners,” said Pryor. “As the self-proclaimed ‘No. 1 holiday music listening destination,’ iHeart can certainly afford to do what every other music platform and democratic nation already does: pay a performance royalty to the artists who make their entire business model possible. After all, the holidays are a season of giving, not greedily lining your own pockets.” 

For more information on iHeart’s holiday greed, follow musicFIRST’s “12 Days Of Artists Getting Scrooged” series on Twitter.

###

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.

Get Involved!

Contact your Members of Congress and tell them you stand against Big Radio.

Contact congress
Back to Latest

RECENT POSTS

Press Release
Randy Travis, Michael Huppe to Testify on Capitol Hill
June 20, 2024
Press Release
musicFIRST Petition Leads FCC to Reinstate Radio Non...
June 11, 2024
Press Release
iHeartMedia’s Earnings Hypocrisy Continues
February 29, 2024
Press Release
musicFIRST Applauds FCC’s Decision To Preserve Radio...
January 11, 2024
Press Release
musicFIRST Launches “12 Days of Artists Getting Scro...
December 13, 2023
Press Release
iHeart Media Celebrates Q3 Financial Performance, Wh...
November 09, 2023
Press Release
Dionne Warwick Partners with musicFIRST to Announce ...
November 07, 2023
Press Release
The musicFIRST Coalition Marks The Start Of Music Fa...
November 01, 2023
Press Release
Big Radio Chooses Greed Over Fairness: musicFIRST Co...
August 08, 2023
Stay in the Loop

GET THE LATEST IN YOUR INBOX


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
By submitting you agree to our Terms & Conditions