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We just learned that lobbyists from Big Radio broadcasters and their allies in Congress are about to reintroduce their bill attacking artists and music creators.

Contact your Representative right now and ask them to stand up to the Big Radio bullies. To stand with artists and music creators.

Big Radio pays artists nothing when they play their music, while they make billions of dollars from these stations.

Over the past several years, Congress has woken up to how unfair and outdated this system is. Thanks to people like you contacting their Representatives, Big Radio’s lobbyists are being rejected left and right.

They are being called out for trying to deceive Congress. They are being forced to answer for their lies.

But we need your help to keep the momentum alive.

Make your voice heard. Tell your Representative that you value music and they should too. Contact your Member of Congress before Big Radio’s lobbyists do.

Tell Congress to reject Big Radio’s LRFA bill. Tell them that artists deserve a fair wage for their work.

Big Radio is one of the most powerful interest groups in Washington D.C. But you are helping us beat back their army of lobbyists.

Thank you for everything you do to stand up for artists and music creators.

Ted Kalo
Executive Director
musicFIRST Coalition
#valuemusic

THE TRUTH ABOUT PERFORMANCE RIGHTS

What is a Performance Right?
Every time you stop the dial to listen to an artist’s distinctive voice, radio stations make money by selling advertising around it. However, AM/FM (or “terrestrial”) corporate radio doesn’t pay a cent to the musicians, vocalists, and recording artists or labels who make the sound that brings in listeners – and money.

A “performance right” would require radio stations to compensate recording artists and copyright owners when they use music, comedy, spoken word, or other recordings to make money, just like they compensate songwriters. For the first time, recording artists would get a piece of the massive profits made on the backs of their creative work.

What is the Local Radio Freedom Act?
Year after year, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), led by radio giants like Clear Channel, and its allies offer a non-binding “Sense of the Congress” resolution called the “Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act.” The NAB then points to support for this resolution as “proof” that Members of Congress oppose a performance right. This is intentionally misleading.

Why is it intentionally misleading? The resolution purports to oppose a performance “tax.” This is a deliberate slur about musicians’ pay. A musicians’ paycheck is not a tax, as the most ardent anti-tax experts, like Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, acknowledge.

Then there is the title. If the resolution “supports” the “Local Radio Freedom Act,” there must be a “Local Radio Freedom Act,” right? Except there isn’t – no such bill or law exists.

And if this resolution is supposed to be an indicator on where members stand, it must commit them to an actual, concrete legislative position, but it doesn’t. It is a 100% substance-free “Sense of the Congress” resolution that would have no legal effect if passed. To put it in context, this is the same construct Congress uses to praise sports teams. It has as much legislative impact as a resolution passed at Model U.N. However, the NAB uses it to great effect to stifle a real, honest debate about how it can possibly be the case that AM/FM radio is the only radio platform that doesn’t pay music creators.

The list of flaws goes on: And it warns of danger to local radio, but small stations would be completely protected under a performance right – proposals to date would have them pay as little as $500 per year.

Who opposes the Local Radio Freedom Act?
In addition to the musicFIRST Coalition, which is a Coalition of groups representing artists and major and independent record labels, a broad Coalition of other groups opposes the bill as well. You can read their letters below.

Let’s start with free market, property rights groups: American Commitment, Citizens Against Government Waste, Center for Individual Freedom, Frontiers of Freedom, Institute for Liberty, Less Government and Taxpayers Protection Alliance all oppose this resolution. In a joint letter, they say the resolution “sanctions the status quo, and has a chilling effect on the development of a forward-thinking policy that respects the rights of all music producers in all media.”

The AFL-CIO opposes the resolution and says its “true substance is directly opposed to the labor movement’s core principle of a “fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.”

Music creators around the country have said they aren’t going to take it anymore and have made their voices heard to the Member of Congress. They have been joined by local labor leaders and local free market advocates.

Why Now?
The better question is how this loophole, which lets AM and FM radio stations exploit musicians, has survived for so long. There has been a push to change this law for more than 40 years, but AM/FM corporate radio has not been willing to give up their free gravy train without a fight. Now, more than ever, with music coming from all kinds of new sources, radio should be held to the same standard as its competitors. It is time for AM and FM radio to pay artists and copyright owners fairly.

Who Pays Now?
AM/FM radio’s competitors – Internet, satellite, and cable – all pay a performance right when they use the creative property of artists and rights owners. In addition, every industrialized country, except the United States, has a performance right. Consequently, when American-made music is played overseas, other countries collect royalties for, but do not pay American artists, because we do not collect for their artists here. AM/FM radio has long been required to pay songwriters, but have so far succeeded in stiffing the artists who bring recordings to life.

Who Benefits?
Performance royalties would mean a better life for artists, who often struggle to make ends meet while others get rich from their creative property. A performance right would ensure that artists are justly paid and finally put the stereotype of the ‘starving artist’ in the past, where it belongs.

What About Small, Low-Revenue, Non-Profit, and Minority-Owned Stations?
Past proposals to create an AM/FM performance right have always included protections for low-revenue, non-profit, and minority-owned stations. Everyone in the music community understands the unique value and importance of these smaller stations and is committed to a solution on performance rights that works for the entire music community, including these cherished broadcast outlets.

Another Tax?
No! Corporate radio has wrongly labeled performance royalties a “tax.” No money is going to the government here, but to the creators of sound recordings – the lifeblood of any radio station. No other business in the world claims they should make a profit without paying for the raw materials they use – bakers pay for flour, designers pay for cloth, and corporate radio should pay for music. Ending this loophole would mean an even playing field for all broadcasters and a well overdue end to unpaid exploitation of artists.

A conservative coalition has stated plainly: “Paying a private citizen or business for the use of their property is clearly not a tax” and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform agrees.

http://musicfirstcoalition.org/performancerights

[Contributed by Steve Garvan, http://www.garvanmanagement.com]

* * * * *

PUDDLE OF MUDD’S WES SCANTLIN WANTED FOR BLOWING OFF DIA BUST COURT DATE

Last month, [Westword’s] Music blog told you about the arrest of Puddle of Mudd lead singer Wes Scantlin for trespassing at Denver International Airport — by riding the oversize luggage racks there.

In recent days, Scantlin was supposed to appear in local court on that incident and a previous one in Denver.

But he blew them off — meaning that he’s reportedly a wanted man in the Mile High City.

Puddle of Mudd is originally from Kansas City and sold five-million copies of its 2001 album Come Clean. Among its more memorable songs is “She Hates Me,” [seen in the video posted in the original Westword article].

However, it’s been quite a few years since the band’s heyday as a headliner of large venues.

Its gig in Denver last month was slated for Casselman’s.

The show happened, but late, as promoter Seth Daniels told our Tom Murphy last month.

“Evidently someone in their group was egging him on to do it,” Daniels noted about the luggage-rack ride. “They were videotaping it for, I don’t know, http://www.trytostayrelevant.com. [TSA] told him to get off, and he refused. They didn’t arrest him immediately; they warned him: ‘Hey, if you don’t get off the luggage rack, we’re going to arrest you.’ He refused to get off, so they arrested him.”

The original bail for Scantlin was set at $11,000, Murphy reports. However, the amount was reduced to $5,000, with a $250 bond, and after it was paid, Scantlin was released from custody just after midnight and was onstage at Casselman’s by about 12:20 a.m.

On Facebook, Scantlin posted a brief update on his situation: “I’m here Denver! Thanks for your patience – Wes xo.”

A few days later, however, he made it clear he wasn’t exactly filled with remorse over the incident, sharing a Photoshopped image:

The caption reads: “I’m sorry?” Accompanying it is a frowny-face emoji.

It’s not as if Scantlin was in big trouble. As pointed out by 7News, he may have ridden into a restricted area, but his crime isn’t considered a federal offense. Rather, it was to be handled as a local matter.

But the station stresses in a new package that Scantlin still was required to make a court appearance for that matter and a second one dating back to 2006 for driving 25-39 miles per hour over the speed limit on Pena Boulevard.

Trouble is, Scantlin turned up for neither of these court dates. According to the station, that means he is technically a wanted man in Denver.

This isn’t Scantlin’s first brush with the law regarding air travel. TMZ posted about a September 2012 arrest for causing a stir on a JetBlue flight bound for Austin “after he allegedly got into a booze-fueled argument with a flight attendant. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing and Scantlin was charged with public intoxication.”

A police report pulled by 7News states that Scantlin thought the flight attendant wanted to kill him. [In original article: Here’s footage of him being taken off the plane:]

In the end, the charges against Scantlin for the 2012 escapade were dropped for insufficient evidence.

The same might have been true in Denver if Scantlin had bothered to show up. Now, however, he may have a bigger headache than before if Puddle of Mudd chooses to play Denver again.

Here are three videos from 7News — two separate collections of raw footage from DIA surveillance, followed by the station’s full report about the court dates.

[Article contains photos and videos].

Westword | By Michael Roberts

http://www.westword.com/news/puddle-of-mudds-wes-scantlin-wanted-for-blowing-off-dia-bust-court-date-6577529

[Contributed by Alex Teitz – http://www.femmusic.com]

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