Gene Simmons, the co-founder and bass player for KISS, the iconic rock band, has a short but important op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal. The title, "EU and Big Radio Gun for Musical Artists," may be eye-popping in keeping with Gene Simmons' persona, but the message is on point.
The op-ed explains that the U.S. is one of the few developed countries in the world that allows AM and FM radio stations to play music without paying royalties to the songwriters and performers. In 2020, the European Court of Justice held that radio stations in EU countries had to begin paying American artists when they played their songs. According to Mr. Simmons, music artists are receiving nearly $300 million per year in royalties as compensation for playing their works. But now, the EU is threatening to cut off those payments under what it calls "material reciprocity." In the U.S., the radio broadcasters continue to refuse to pay royalties on the artists' copyrighted songs, so the Europeans say they may cease payments.
Mr. Simmons urges that Congress pass the American Music Fairness Act. The legislation would require the payment of performance royalties by large national radio station groups in the U.S., while requiring minimal royal payments from small local broadcasters. Free State Foundation scholars have been urging passage of the AMFA for years. It's not fair for American songwriters and performers not to be compensated for their copyrighted work – the product of their labor, which is their livelihood. That's the "fairness" aspect of the AMFA.
But in a very important sense it's also not very American either. The U.S. Constitution's Copyright Clause gives Congress the power, "in order to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts," to grant artists the "exclusive Right" to their works. This exclusive right is intended to ensure that artists are compensated for their creative labors by securing copyrights. Indeed, Intellectual Property rights are the only "Rights" actually recognized in the Constitution of 1787.
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