Today, (Oct 15, 2009), the Senate Judiciary Committee passed their version of the Performance Rights Act of 2009 in voice vote. This is an important step in ensuring that performers and sound copyright owners (usually the labels) are compensated when their music is played (or "performed") on over-the-air radio.

Currently, when you hear a song on over-the-air broadcast radio in the US, the composer/songwriter/publisher are compensated for that "public performance" via ASCAP/BMI/SESAC, but the performer and record label are not. Meaning, if you hear Aretha Franklin's classic version of "Respect" on the radio, the songwriter (in this case, Otis Redding's estate) and the publisher receive payment; the Queen of Soul (and her label) do not receive any performance royalties. Nearly every other industrialized nation compensates songwriters and performers for the over-air broadcast of their work — notable exceptions include Iran and North Korea.Today, (Oct 15, 2009), the Senate Judiciary Committee passed their version of the Performance Rights Act of 2009 in voice vote. This is an important step in ensuring that performers and sound copyright owners (usually the labels) are compensated when their music is played (or "performed") on over-the-air radio.

Check out our Public Performance Right fact sheet for more info.

A performance right for terrestrial radio would also pay the performing artists directly (likely via SoundExchange) for the use of their work. Meaning, the featured performer's cut (45 percent) would go directly to the performer — it wouldn't pass through an artists label to be held against their "recoupables," or debt to the label. The sound copyright owner (again, usually the label, but sometimes the artist) gets 50 percent, and the backup performers get 5 percent.

Remember, this right already exists for digital performances, including satellite radio, webcasts and those music-with-no-video channels at the high end of your cable TV dial. Yet terrestrial broadcasters get to spin these tunes without performers who breathe life into these compositions.

At last week's Future of Music Policy Summit in DC, FMC's Communications Director Casey Rae-Hunter gave a short video interview about the Performance Right to MusicFIRST — a group including labels, musicians' unions, SoundExchange and hundreds of musicians. You can watch the clip here.

FMC is pleased that the Performance Right Act has passed out of this key committee, and you can be sure we'll be reporting back about any further developments.