No lobby is more powerful than the Hollywood/show biz crowd. While Congress shows its great concern for the plight of today's newspapers, many members of Congress, in the pocket of Hollywood have little regard for the radio broadcast industry. Despite all the testimony and the arguments, the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill okaying a law that would require radio broadcasters to pay a fee to record companies for playing their records. This could not come at a worse time for radio...even before the recession radio advertising was in decline...now with the economy in its worst period since the 30's, radio's quarterlies are as much as 40% less than they were last year. The NAB, of course, is not happy...the following is their statement issued just a few moments ago..
NAB STATEMENT ON TODAY'S
HOUSE
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE VOTE
Voting
against the RIAA-backed tax were House Judiciary Committee Members Maxine Waters
(CA-35), Lamar Smith (TX-21), Howard Coble (NC-6), Dan Lungren (CA-3), Louie
Gohmert (TX-1), Jim Jordan (OH-4), Ted Poe (TX-2), Jason Chaffetz (UT-3) and
Gregg Harper (MS-3).
Outside
the Judiciary Committee, a bipartisan group of 192 House lawmakers are already
on record in opposition to the legislation, which is being pushed by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Commenting on today's Committee
action, NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton issued the following
statement:
"We
were pleasantly surprised by the considerable bipartisan opposition to a
performance tax, even in a committee where support for the record labels is
strongest. NAB applauds these nine members for standing with America's hometown
radio stations, their 235 million weekly listeners, and the yet-to-break artists
who will lose their number one promotional platform if this bill is enacted.
"Nearly
half the House of Representatives already opposes RIAA efforts to feather the
nest of foreign record labels. Record label abuse of artists from Count Basie to
Prince is well-documented, as evidenced by scores of lawsuits filed by musicians
cheated out of royalties. Moving forward, the fundamental question is this: If
the debate is about 'fairness to artists', why should the record labels get one
penny from a performance tax on radio stations?"
The
Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 49), unveiled at a February Capitol
Hill event hosted by the Free Radio Alliance, was introduced by Reps. Gene
Green (TX-29) and Mike Conaway (TX-11). In March, an identical resolution was
introduced in the Senate (S. Con. Res. 14) by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (AR) and
John Barrasso (WY).
"Congress should not impose any new performance fee,
tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound
recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings
over-the-air, or on any business for such public performance of sound
recordings," reads The Local Radio Freedom Act.
The
bipartisan House resolution now has 192 cosponsors, including:
|
Robert
Aderholt (AL-4)
Rob Andrews (NJ-1)
Todd Akin (MO-2)
Rodney Alexander
(LA-5)
Jason Altmire (PA-4)
Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
Steve Austria
(OH-7)
Michele Bachmann (MN-6)
Spencer Bachus (AL-6)
Gresham Barrett
(SC-3)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6)
Melissa Bean
(IL-8)
Marion Berry (AR-1)
Judy Biggert (IL-13)
Sanford Bishop
(GA-2)
Roy Blunt (MO-7)
Jo Bonner (AL-1)
John Boozman (AR-3)
Dan
Boren (OK-2)
Leonard Boswell (IA-3)
Charles Boustany (LA-7)
Allen Boyd
(FL-2)
Kevin Brady (TX-8)
Bruce Braley (IA-1)
Bobby Bright
(AL-2)
Paul Broun (GA-10)
Corrine Brown (FL-3)
Henry Brown
(SC-1)
Ginny Brown-Waite (FL-5)
Michael Burgess (TX-26)
Dan Burton
(IN-5)
Steve Buyer (IN-4)
John Campbell (CA-48)
Shelly Moore Capito
(WV-2)
Ken Calvert (CA-44)
Mike Capuano
(MA-8)
Russ Carnahan (MO-3)
Andre Carson (IN-7)
John
Carter (TX-31)
Ben Chandler (KY-6)
William Lacy Clay (MO-1)
Tom Cole
(OK-4)
Mike Conaway (TX-11)
Jerry Costello (IL-12)
Joseph Courtney
(CT-2)
Ander Crenshaw (FL-4)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
John Culberson
(TX-7)
Artur Davis (AL-7)
Danny Davis (IL-7)
Geoff Davis
(KY-4)
Lincoln Davis (TN-4)
Charles Dent (PA-15)
Lincoln Diaz-Balart
(FL-21)
Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25)
Norm Dicks (WA-6)
Joe Donnelly
(IN-2)
John Duncan (TN-2)
Chet Edwards (TX-17)
Vernon Ehlers (MI-3)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-8)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8)
Mary Fallin (OK-5)
|
Chaka
Fattah (PA-2)
John Fleming (LA-4)
Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1)
Virginia
Foxx (NC-5)
Elton Gallegly (CA-24)
Jim Gerlach
(PA-6)
Phil Gingrey (GA-11)
Kay Granger (TX-12)
Sam Graves (MO-6)
Al
Green (TX-9)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Parker Griffith (AL-5)
Brett Guthrie
(KY-2)
Ralph Hall (TX-4)
Deborah Halvorson (IL-11)
Phil Hare
(IL-17)
Doc Hastings (WA-4)
Dean Heller (NV-2)
Stephanie Herseth
Sandlin (SD-AL)
Baron Hill (IN-9)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
Pete Hoekstra (MI-2)
Tim Holden (PA-17)
Duncan Hunter (CA-52)
Lynn
Jenkins (KS-2)
Timothy Johnson (IL-15)
Walter Jones (NC-3)
Jim Jordan
(OH-4)
Steve Kagen (WI-8)
Jack Kingston (GA-1)
Larry Kissell (NC-8)
John Kline (MN-2)
Doug Lamborn (CO-5)
Rick Larsen (WA-2)
Steve
LaTourette (OH-14)
Robert Latta (OH-5)
John Lewis (GA-5)
John Linder
(GA-7)
Chris Lee (NY-26)
Frank Lucas (OK-3)
Frank LoBiondo
(NJ-2)
Dave Loebsack (IA-2)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9)
Cynthia Lummis
(WY-AL)
Don Manzullo (IL-16)
Kenny Marchant (TX-24)
Betsy Markey
(CO-4)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4)
Michael McCaul (TX-10)
Tom McClintock
(CA-4)
Patrick McHenry (NC-10)
John McHugh (NY-23)
Mike McIntyre
(NC-7)
Cathy McMorris Rogers (WA-5)
Michael Michaud
(ME-2)
Brad Miller (NC-13)
Candice Miller
(MI-10)
Gary Miller (CA-42)
Jeff Miller (FL-1)
Walt Minnick (ID-1)
Harry Mitchell (AZ-5)
Dennis Moore (KS-3)
Jerry Moran (KS-1)
Sue
Myrick (NC-9) |
Randy
Neugebauer (TX-19)
Devin Nunes (CA-21)
James Oberstar (MN-8)
Pete Olson
(TX-22)
Solomon Ortiz (TX-27)
Frank Pallone (NJ-6)
Erik Paulson
(MN-3)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-8)
Ron Paul (TX-14)
Mike Pence (IN-6)
Tom Perriello (VA-5)
Tom Petri (WI-6)
Pedro
Pierluisi (PR-At Large)
Joe Pitts (PA-16)
Todd Platts (PA-19)
Ted Poe
(TX-2)
Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL)
Bill Posey (FL-15)
Tom
Price (GA-6)
Nick Rahall (WV-3)
Charles Rangel (NY-15)
Dennis Rehberg
(MT-AL)
Silvestre Reyes (TX-16)
Harold Rogers (KY-5)
Mike Rogers
(AL-3)
Mike Rogers (MI-8)
Peter Roskam (IL-6)
Mike Ross
(AR-4)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18)
Dutch Ruppersberger
(MD-2)
Paul Ryan (WI-1)
Tim Ryan (OH-17)
Aaron Schock
(IL-18)
David Scott (GA-13)
Pete Sessions (TX-32)
John Shimkus
(IL-19)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1)
Heath Shuler (NC-11)
Bill Shuster
(PA-9)
Mike Simpson (ID-2)
Adrian Smith (NE-3)
Zack Space (OH-18)
Mark Souder (IN-3)
John Spratt (SC-5)
Cliff Stearns (FL-6)
Bart
Stupak (MI-1)
John Sullivan (OK-1)
Lee Terry (NE-2)
Mike Thompson
(CA-1)
Glenn Thompson (PA-5)
"Mac" Thornberry (TX-13)
Todd Tiahrt
(KS-4)
Pat Tiberi (OH-12)
Mike Turner (OH-3)
Fred Upton (MI-6)
Peter Visclosky (IN-1)
Greg Walden (OR-2)
Timothy Walz
(MN-1)
Lynn Westmoreland (GA-3)
Ed Whitfield (KY-1)
Charlie
Wilson (OH-6)
Joe Wilson (SC-2)
Rob Wittman (VA-1)
Don Young (AK-At
Large) |