Now I know this is skirting "politics" because this is a bill. As forum owner, I should perhaps maybe consider being more lenient regarding politics that directly affects the music business. That might be different. We'll see.DID YOU KNOW?
The United States is the only democratic country in the world where artists don’t get paid for radio airplay.
The short list of countries that share the United States’ position on this issue includes Iran, North Korea, China, Vietnam, and Rwanda.
As a result of not paying their artists for radio airplay here in the United States, other democratic countries aren’t paying American artists in their countries.
The thing I do not understand, and forgive me for being so uninformed, but I had always thought that radio stations DO pay artists for airplay. Maybe not directly, but don't radio stations have to pay PROs like ASCAP and BMI, which then in turn pay the artists?
Okay... wait a minute. It just dawned on me. Maybe the key word is "artist." I must be thinking about "songwriters." Songwriters do indeed get paid, don't they? So is the push to make it so musicians who cover someone else's song get paid for airplay?
This may be a more complex issue than it seems on its face.