DPE Urges the House Judiciary Committee to Support the American Music Fairness Act
December 6, 2022
Support H.R. 4130, the American Music Fairness Act
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE), I urge you to vote yes in support of H.R. 4130, the American Music Fairness Act, at the House Judiciary Committee’s December 7 markup, and to oppose any harmful amendments. This bipartisan legislation would ensure that musicians, singers, and performing artists — including members of DPE’s affiliate unions — are compensated when their songs are played on terrestrial (AM/FM) radio.
Currently, America’s AM/FM stations earn billions of dollars in advertising revenue each year, but do not compensate the performers whose works draw in the audiences that advertisers pay the stations to reach. In addition, because American AM/FM radio stations do not pay for content that musicians and singers record, other countries routinely seize the royalties owed to U.S. performers for works played on their own radio stations.
The American Music Fairness Act would right these wrongs. The bill would require AM/FM stations whose gross annual revenue is greater than $1.5 million — or stations owned by parent companies whose annual revenue tops $10 million — to pay artists and musicians when their songs are played on air. This common-sense legislation also includes broad exemptions and low annual flat fees for smaller stations and public, college, and noncommercial broadcasters, while protecting songwriters by ensuring payments to artists do not come out of their share of royalties. In doing so, the American Music Fairness Act would also ensure that foreign countries pay American artists and musicians when their songs are played abroad.
Now is the time for Congress to close a loophole that prevents creative professionals, including union members, from earning fair compensation when their songs are played on AM/FM radio. Many of these working people went as long as two years without being able to earn money performing live due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, AM/FM stations weathered the pandemic’s economic turmoil by profiting off playing these artists’ musical works.
I urge you to vote yes in support of H.R. 4130 at the House Judiciary Committee’s December 7 markup, and to oppose any harmful amendments.
If you have any questions, please contact me or DPE Assistant to the President/Legislative Director, Michael Wasser at mwasser@dpeaflcio.org.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dorning