The Media Institute, a nonprofit research foundation focusing on communications-oriented policy issues, has released a report in which they set forth their opposition to the Performance Rights Act (PRA). You can download the full report, something I recommend that you do, here: Performance Fees on Radio Stations: A Debacle Waiting To Happen (pdf). FMQB describes it thus:
The paper reinforces the view that radio broadcasters and record labels have enjoyed a “mutually beneficial economic relationship” in which broadcasters play recordings available for free, thereby building audiences and ad revenue, while record labels get the benefit of that free airplay to boost record sales. Imposing a royalty scheme on broadcasters would not only upset this equilibrium, but would likely force a significant number of stations into bankruptcy or off the air altogether. Black and Hispanic stations would bear the brunt of compulsory performance fees for sound recordings, and the loss of such stations would be particularly acute for Black and Hispanic communities where local radio stations are “a primary venue for the expression of minority and ethnic viewpoints,” the paper states.
Common sense arguments in my opinion, and ones that I, among others, have voiced repeatedly since the beginning. It is of particular concern...
Source: Radio 2020
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