Black Stations Are Singing A New Tune

When it comes to driving, I only listen to possibly two radio stations. One is ESPN the radio, and the other is NPR. I guess since 21, I realized that most of the black radio shows don’t play anything that is new and fresh. Most of the times it is a song, either done by Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, or somebody from the south rapping about a minstrel dance, saying how much they got, or something that is just downright ignorant. I looked at a bill today from Rep. John Conyers (Yeah, that dude whose wife really Eff’ up Detroit) and saw that some people just don’t want to hear and if they want to hear it, they rather let the stations pay for what we hear.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) President Roberta Reardon and American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) President Thomas Lee joined with members of Congress today to announce a strong push by the union movement to pass legislation that supports the fundamental right of American musical artists to be paid for their work.

The Performance Rights Act, H.R. 848 would close a loophole in copyright law that allows AM and FM stations to duck royalty payments to performing artists. The United States is one of a handful of countries that do not provide fair performance rights on radio. The others include Qatar, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and China.

Hold up!!!

Big Radio has launched a propaganda campaign against the legislation led by Cathy Hughes, owner of the African American mega-company Radio One, which claims the legislation would hurt African American and small radio stations.

Last year, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), the A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) and the NAACP endorsed the legislation saying it would not hurt black radio and that musicians, like all workers, deserve to be paid a fair wage.

Radio One is a classic example of corporate greed, Trumka pointed out. In the middle of the recession, Radio One executives fired workers, cut salaries and slashed benefits while setting themselves up with millions of dollars in bonuses.

Personally I don’t have a Radio One or do I care about Clear Channel, so if these guys want to play nonsense on the airwaves, let them have it. It doesn’t matter what you play when you know that you don’t have to give a dime to the person who you play. If this bill past, you will be seeing radio execs catching a selective view of what artist they play. It will have to be super hot for execs to play and last time I checked, I never saw a radio executive say “Gucci Mane is my No. 1 fan.” Well there is always getting in line with doing talk shows, but who wants to hear comedians try to reincarnate Petey Greene, because they can’t. I say let it ride because Black Radio needs to be taught a lesson.

Sorry, I just call this one BS like everything else. Maybe killing off BET as a whole is next?

What do you feel about this bill? Should radio stations pay for the good or crap music that they put on the airwaves? Do you feel like Cathy Hughes just got shafted in her own game?

Time Start Paying Musicians

The Performance Rights Act Threatens Black Radio -- Or Does It?