White House wants to change how bands are paid for radio play

Victoria Espinel, who oversees intellectual property enforcement for the Obama White House has released her wish list for changes to IP law in the United States. Most important for musicians is Espinel's desire to change how radio stations compensate bands for airplay. Currently, royalties for airplay are paid to songwriters, not performers so bands are only paid if they perform their own music.

Most countries (and satellite radio and television) pay for performance, but the United States limits payments to songwriters only. The issue is contentious because broadcasters believe the increased royalties will limit radio's ability to promote artists. The paper explains the reasoning for this recommendation:

Historically, in the U.S., there has been no right of public performance for sound recordings transmit- ted by over-the-air broadcast stations. The absence of such a right puts U.S. copyright owners at a disadvantage internationally. They are not permitted to collect overseas royalties because they are not granted rights in the U.S. The U.S. stands alone among industrialized nations in not recognizing a public performance right in sound recordings. The Administration recommends legislation giving sound recording owners that right.

Notably, the paper also includes a change to how "streaming" piracy is enforced. Currently, making copies of music or movies and distributing them in their entirety is a felony, but streaming is not. Under the new proposal, unauthorized streaming could be prosecuted as a felony. It is unclear how this could affect streaming services but would give the music industry a much stronger hand when negotiating rights with new music and movie startups.