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NAB Ad Focuses On 'Performance Tax'
WASHINGTON -- February 26, 2008: "Are record labels leaving artists holding the bag?" asks a new ad from the NAB, set to run in Capitol Hill publications Roll Call, The Hill, and Politico on Wednesday.
The ad, opposing efforts to impose performance royalties on broadcasters, continues, "Free local radio provides valuable exposure and promotion to record labels and artists simply by playing their songs ... for free. But what are the artists getting from their record labels? Not much, according to a recent lawsuit filed by more than a dozen artists against the world's largest label, Universal Music."
Artists including Patti Page and the estates of the Count Basie and Benny Goodman recently sued Universal Music Group for more than $6 million in back royalties they say they have been cheated out of over the past 10 years. UMG has called the claims "baseless."
Wednesday's NAB ad says the effects of what it calls a "performance tax" would be "catastropic, potentially forcing stations out of business, stifling new artists, and harming the listening public who depend on local radio."
The MusicFIRST Coalition, which lobbies in favor of performance royalties, has ads supporting royalties legislation running in Roll Call this week as the NAB holds its State Leadership Conference in DC.
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