Lyle Lovett Pushes for Performance Pay when Radio Stations Air Songs

WASHINGTON — Lyle Lovett, the Texas singer-songwriter and Hollywood actor, told a Senate committee Tuesday that performers should be paid like songwriters when their recordings are aired on the radio.

But spokesmen for the radio stations argued that the performers are compensated through promotion when their recordings are played for free over the air and then listeners go out and buy their CDs.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee seemed to side with the performers but added that the issue is not as simple as it appears.

What about laws against "payola?" wondered Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. What about radio stations taking a financial risk playing songs by unknown performers?

If radio stations had the added expense of performance fees, the industry might go "in the direction of pay for play" and also air only established artists, said Steven Newberry, who owns and operates 23 small radio stations in rural Kentucky and spoke on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters.

But Lovett said the issue concerns simple fairness.

"When a recording is played on over-the-air radio, the songwriter who wrote the words and music receives a performance royalty, as he or she should," said Lovett. "But the performer receives nothing."

Lovett conceded that performers do benefit from their songs being played on radio but pointed out that the promotion "goes both ways."

"No one tunes into a radio station for the commercials," he testified. "When radio plays these recorded works, they generate profits for themselves because they attract listeners and advertising dollars."

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pointed out that Webcasts, cable and satellite radio already pay performance fees.

"Is it fair to continue to exempt broadcasters from royalty obligations?" he asked. On the other hand, he asked, "Is it fair to impose public service requirements on broadcast radio but not make those demands on others" such as Internet and satellite radio networks?

But the broadcasters said many radio stations could not stand the extra expense.

"The imposition of what broadcasters consider a 'performance tax' would be inequitable and unfair," said Newberry.

He said radio's payments to composers and songwriters through ASCAP, BMI and SESAC are justified because they can't "monetize" their talents as easily as performers can. He said local radio stations provide free promotion for the concerts and recordings of the performers.

"Local radio stations have been the driving force behind record sales in this country for generations," he told the committee.

But Alice Peacock, a singer-songwriter from Chicago, said "frankly, the promotion argument sounds a bit silly."

A concert promoter wouldn't think of not paying a performer just because her stage appearance helped promote her CD sales, she pointed out.

"If a business uses recorded music to earn advertising revenue, then is should compensate those who created that recorded music," she said. "It's that simple."

Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson sat in the audience wearing a cowboy hat. Cornyn noted the rich Texas musical legacy, quickly correcting himself after referring to Bob Wills as "Bob Willis." Lovett stressed his Lone Star roots.

"One of my first public performances was at the age of 7, singing 'Long Tall Texan' in a school talent show," he said. "I grew up in Texas and I still live there in the house my grandfather built in 1911."

"My life and music are forever linked to Texas" but this issue has national and international implications, said Lovett, a four-time Grammy winner.

In Europe, radio does pay performers but the U.S. law encourages other foreign radio stations not to do so.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, agreed.

"I lean heavily in favor of the artists and writers," said Hatch, himself a songwriter who recalled receiving his first $57 royalty check for radio airplay.

The royalty rights of songwriters have to be protected while creating the new rights for performers, said Lovett. "But I'm sure we can get this done so it's fair and square for everyone involved."