WASHINGTON--Last week, a group of Black protesters gathered outside of the Detroit offices of U.S. Rep. John Conyers (Dem., Mich.). They weren’t there to join the longtime Michigan congressman and civil rights advocate in a demonstration. They came to rally against him.
At issue is a bill that Congressman Conyers, who chairs the powerful House judiciary committee, pushed through that panel.
The legislation would require over-the-air radio stations to compensate singers and musicians--many of them Black--for playing their songs.
Currently, only cable, satellite and Internet radio stations pay these “performance royalties” to musical artists, but all other radio stations only pay royalties to songwriters, composers and music publishers.
Congressman Conyers thinks that’s unfair.
The time “is finally ripe for establishing some form of equity for recording artist--allowing them to be paid fair compensation for their creativity,” he said before the panel passed the bill 21-9 on Wednesday.
Opponents of the legislation, led by Black radio personalities, owners and some prominent civil rights activists, said the bill would bankrupt many Black radio stations.
If that happened, critics contend, the ripple effects would be felt far beyond the studios of Black radio.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, who hosts a syndicated radio show, told me that the legislation threatens the ability of Blacks to encourage political participation and Black voter turnout. Black radio is “the straw that stirs the drink” and was a major catalyst in turning out Black voters for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Rev. Al Sharpton, another civil rights activist and radio show host, opposes the legislation.
So does David Honig, executive director of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, which, in 1999, inducted Congressman Conyers into its hall of fame.
Now, it and many in the civil rights community are locking horns with the 23-term congressman.
“It’s not a personal attack,” Rev. Jackson said. “It’s an appeal for understanding.
“We’re pressing him to take into consideration the ramifications of his bill.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights also urged Congressman Conyers to delay action on the legislation until a study of its impact on “women and minority broadcasters has been fully explored.”
The NAACP called on the congressman “to ensure the survival not only of performers, but also of minority-owned radio stations.”
Congressman Conyers tried to address these concerns with some last-minute changes to the bill.
He replaced a provision that required radio stations with annual gross revenue of $1.25 million or less to make a single annual royalty payment of $5,000, with a sliding scale for royalty payments.
In the judiciary committee bill, stations with a gross yearly income less than $100,000 would pay just $500 annually. Those that make $100,000 to $500,000 would pay $2,500, and radio stations taking in $500,000 to $1.25 million would pay $5,000 into a fund to compensate.
Those with larger annual revenue would pay performers a negotiated royalty.
Even so, critics said radio stations can’t afford to pay anything.
That sounds a bit unreasonable to me.
Performers of music are half the creative process of producing a song. It doesn’t make sense to deny them compensation while paying others.
There should be a way to pay them without bankrupting Black radio stations. Congressman Conyers and his critics must share the blame if they don’t find a way to do that.
