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Guest post by\u00a0David Philp,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Ass’t Professor Music & Entertainment Industries and\u00a0Popular Music Studies at\u00a0William Paterson University<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0<\/em>Music Biz 101<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Our House of Representatives passed The Music Modernization Act this past week.\u00a0 This does some good things, while not taking on the biggest elephant in the room.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been a reader of this space over the years, you may remember that songs recorded before 1972 were not given the protection, and royalty love, as songs post-\u201972.\u00a0 A number of lawsuits were filed and there were a number of complicated verdicts.\u00a0 Lawyers made some good bucks on it all.<\/p>\n Now, a song like \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d by The Moody Blues, which came out in 1967, will earn the members of the band who played on the recording a royalty from services like Pandora and SiriusXM.\u00a0 In the past, those entities didn\u2019t have to pay.\u00a0 They do now.\u00a0 SoundExchange, which collects funds from those sources, is happy.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0 Click\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to read about three other positive moves by this bill, which now goes to the Senate for approval before your president signs it into law.<\/p>\n There is one major part of this legislation that\u2019s not addressed.\u00a0 You know how we just said The Moody Blues will now get paid when SiriusXM\u2019s \u201960s On 6 station plays one of their tracks?\u00a0 If CBS-FM plays the same track, guess what?\u00a0 The band doesn\u2019t get paid.\u00a0 Still.<\/p>\n This bill does not address this discrepancy.\u00a0 If I\u2019m working for iHeart Media or Entercom (the two biggest radio companies in America), I am ecstatic.\u00a0 If I\u2019m a recording artist, or an artist manager, or a label president, I am not so ecstatic.<\/p>\n Terrestrial radio (the free, over-the-air radio you get in your car or ask Alexa to play) has been exempt from these payments for decades.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Their argument is that they provide a service to artists \u2013 We play your music, millions hear it, you get famous and sell\/stream music\u2026 We\u2019re very good to you.\u00a0 Case closed.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, radio does pay the PROs (Performance Rights Organizations like ASCAP), so there\u2019s a precedence for paying rights-holders.\u00a0 And SRCOs (sound recording copyright owners), like the labels, and recording artists can go right back to radio and claim that, without the music, radio is just talk.\u00a0 Without music, radio can\u2019t charge $350 for a 30-second commercial on Z-100.\u00a0 Without music, radio is not a billion-dollar industry.<\/p>\n Radio keeps winning the argument, most likely because they are better at lobbying politicians to NOT include this in Music Modernization Acts.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t charge us this \u2013 it\u2019s a TAX!\u201d they say.\u00a0 \u201cBesides, jobs will go away.\u00a0 You TAX us, we\u2019ll have to let people go.\u00a0 That\u2019s on you, Mr.\/Mrs. Politician.\u00a0 Oh, and here\u2019s a few bucks for your next re-election campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n You gotta be smart.\u00a0 You gotta be rich.\u00a0 You gotta be extremely persuasive to change anything in Washington D.C.\u00a0 Maybe one of you will get this through in the Music Modernization Act II.<\/p>\n Professor David Philp is Assistant Professor Music & Entertainment Industries and\u00a0Popular Music Studies at William Paterson University. He is the co-host of the only FREE advice college radio-based music & entertainment industry talk show in America,\u00a0Music Biz 101 & More<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0which airs live most Wednesday nights and is available as a podcast\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0every night (days too). \u00a0Your favorite professor is also co-author (with Dr. Steve Marcone) of\u00a0Managing Your Band \u2013 6th Edition<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Reach him at PhilpD@wpunj.edu or find him on LinkedIn\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the wake of the House of Representatives passage of the music modernization act, David Philp explains how, while the bill does indeed do some good things for artists, the largest issue in the music industry remains unaddressed. _____________________ Guest post by\u00a0David Philp,\u00a0\u00a0Ass’t Professor Music & Entertainment Industries and\u00a0Popular Music Studies at\u00a0William Paterson University\u00a0from\u00a0Music Biz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":11999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stc_notifier_status":"","_stc_notifier_sent_time":"","_stc_notifier_request":false,"_stc_notifier_prevent":false,"_stc_subscriber_keywords":"","_stc_subscriber_search_areas":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,22,77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-industry_news","category-techn-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gallery.mailchimp.com\/0e6debda03e5bcca4a1f1a05c\/images\/03280565-db5d-4b96-9641-17fd8828dc3a.jpg?zoom=2&resize=600%2C609&ssl=1\")
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