Closing The Royalty Loophole Push for a Public Performance Right in Sound Recordings

Did you know? In the U.S., terrestrial radio stations don’t pay royalties to non-songwriter performers or record labels! Unlike other countries, only songwriters and publishers get paid. Weintraub attorneys Scott Hervey and Jamie Lincenberg share how musicians are pushing Congress to change this with the American Music Fairness Act in this installment of “The Briefing.”

Get the full episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel here or listen to this podcast episode here.

Show Notes:

Scott

As you are aware, or you may not be aware, that in the United States, terrestrial radio broadcasters do not have to pay royalties to the singer or the record label for the performance of music. That’s correct. While radio stations pay the songwriter and publisher or performance royalty, the non-songwriter performers, whether that be the singer, guitar player, or drummer, as well as the record label, get nothing. This is different than most other countries around the world and is also different from how royalties are paid for songs that are streamed over the Internet, such as on Spotify or Pandora. Some musicians are pushing Congress to change that. I’m Scott Hervey from Weintraub Tobin, and I’m joined today by fellow Weintraub lawyer and frequent “Briefing” contributor Jamie Lincenberg. We are going to talk about what some are calling a loophole that benefits US radio station conglomerates and the arguments to change that in today’s installment of “The Briefing.”

Jamie, welcome back to “The Briefing.”

Jamie

Thanks, Scott. Glad to be here again.

Scott

So, Jamie, before you heard my opening, did you know that US radio stations don’t make any payments to the non-songwriter, artist or record labels when they play music over terrestrial airwaves?

Jamie

I don’t think I did.

Scott

I don’t think most people knew that, to be quite honest with you. So, the fact that non-songwriters and record labels get nothing when a US radio station plays a song has its genesis in the difference in rights a copyright holder in a composition has from the rights a copyright holder in a sound recording has. So, first, let’s clarify a couple of things. So one, a piece of recorded music has two copyrights. The first is in the underlying musical composition, and the second is in the sound recording itself. The rights in a musical composition are usually owned by a songwriter or the music publisher, and the sound recording rights are usually owned by either the artist or a record label if there is one. Now, the copyright act vests copyright holders with certain exclusive rights. However, the rights a copyright holder has in a sound recording is more limited than the rights a copyright holder has in a musical composition. The copyright owner of a sound recording has the right to make and distribute copies of the sound recording and make derivative works from it, such as remixes, videos using the sound recording, etc. The public performance rights for sound recordings, however, is limited only to digital audio transmissions.

This means that AM and FM radio stations do not have to get permission or pay royalties to publicly perform a sound recording. However, since the Copyright Act grants a copyright holder in a composition the right to control the public performance of that composition, a US radio station does have to pay the songwriter or publisher a royalty for the public performance of that composition when they play music over the airwaves.

Jamie

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