The United States is the only democratic country in the world where artists don’t get paid for radio airplay. Furthermore because of the difference in legislation, whenever American artists get their songs played on international radio, the performance royalties are still withheld. This leads to millions in unclaimed performance royalties.
In the UK both artists and songwriters get paid every time their song gets played on the radio, through PPL and PRS.
PPL collects royalties on behalf of performers & record labels and PRS on behalf of songwriters & publishers, every time their songs are being played publicly (which includes radio). This is common practice in most democratic countries around the world – paying both the artists and the songwriters/publishers equally… except in the USA.
The I Respect Music Petition is aiming to change this! It was inspired by an article that Blake Morgan wrote for the Huffington Post “Art and Music Are Professions Worth Fighting for” in his words “Once the article went viral and passed 40,000 ‘likes,’ it was clear that idea and those three words had resonated far more deeply than anyone could have expected.”
The petition which you can find HERE aims to change the legislation in the USA allowing performers to claim the royalties they deserve for radio airplay. We at Music Gateway fully support this campaign as we believe that it is time to make a change in the way some people in the industry think. It is called the “Music” industry for a reason and it wouldn’t be there without artists.
We respect music!
What are your views on this issue?