«Members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees have introduced a proposed bill that would force terrestrial broadcasters to pay a performance royalty, the first royalty obligation of its kind for AM/FM radio.
As attorney David Oxenford points out on the Broadcast Law Blog, the rates announced for "small" and non-commercial broadcasters again raise the question of "fairness" between platforms, particularly with regard to rates paid by similarly-sized webcasters.
Even before plans for the legislation were announced by Rep. Howard Berman in October, broadcasters and record labels have been engaged in heavy campaigns surrounding the issue. Now, with the introduction of a bill, observers should expect the issue of performance royalties to draw heavy media attention, perhaps even more than the issue of webcasting royalty rates has garnered since early 2007. (RAIN)

«Currently, broadcasters pay only for the right to use the composition and do not pay for the use of sound recordings in their over-the-air operations of the actual recording. “This long-expected bill will no doubt fuel new debate over the need and justification for this new fee… The proponents of the bill have contended that it is necessary to achieve fairness, as digital music services pay such a fee. To ease the shock of the transition, the bill proposes flat fees for small and noncommercial broadcasters – fees which themselves undercut the notion of fairness, as they are far lower than fees for comparable digital services»