Well, with the reintroduction yesterday - on Groundhog Day - of the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA) in this Congress by a bipartisan, bicameral group of Senators and Representatives, it's easy to get a sense of deja vu "all over again." The AMFA would require terrestrial radio broadcasters to pay royalties to American music creators when they play their songs. Importantly, it allows small and local broadcast stations that have less than $1.5 million annual revenue and whose parent companies have less than $10 million annual revenue overall to play unlimited music for less than $500 annually.
The bill's sponsors are Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Thom Tillis, and Democrats Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein. In the House, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D) and Darrell Issa (R). Like I said, bipartisan and bicameral.
As Free State Foundation scholars have contended for many years now, the AMFA bill should become law. Don't you deserve to be paid for the work you create or produce? Well, so do recording artists and those who produce their works!
Long before the next Groundhog Day, Congress should have enacted and the president should have signed the AMFA!
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