Making Waves and Asking Questions: Explaining Why We Need The Fair Play, Fair Pay Act in the U.S.
With the many headlines that have been seen over the past couple years regarding streaming services and artist revenue-related topics, even the casual music fan and average U.S. citizen may have begun to wonder what is going on behind-the-scenes of the music business as it relates to these topics.
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Kristin Thomson, the Co-Director of the US-based non-profit Future of Music Coalition’s Artist Revenue Streams research project, has shared her perspective as representative of FMC which has covered the measure in depth:
The fact that the United States doesn’t have a public performance right for sound recordings is a travesty, on more than one level. The lack of public performance right not only means that performers and record labels are not compensated when their sound recordings are broadcast on US-based radio stations, it also means that the royalties generated from airplay in other countries cannot flow back to American rights holders because we have no reciprocal right. As with legislative efforts over the past 15 years designed to address this anomaly, Future of Music Coalition supports the passage of Fair Play Fair Pay Act.
As these measures are brought to the forefront of the attention of our nations lawmakers, it sounds as though the airwaves between members of Congress and the creators of music are now more open than ever, and growing clearer by the day. It’s relieving that the two are more and more finding themselves on the same frequency, only growing in signal strength as Capitol Hill is receiving what we are broadcasting: That the time for change is at hand, and that this will establish a more level playing field for both the protection of copyright and intellectual property as well as the fair compensation and return for one of America’s greatest exports. Our music.