How Much Would AM/FM Sound Recording Performance Royalties Really Help Artists?

The SoundExchange-backed musicFIRST Coalition put the artists Sam & Dave and Judy Collins in front of Congress to testify in favor of implementing sound recording performance rights on terrestrial radio stations, in a bid to gain sympathy for recording artists who could stand to gain from the rates, should they be put into place.

But how much, exactly, would the new rates help those artists? The trade publication Inside Radio did some digging to find out:

"Whowould benefit? The big check would go to record labels, not artistslike Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, and Judy Collins. Both testifiedbefore Congress last week in support of the proposed new tax on radio.
An Inside Radio analysis of monitored airplay statistics showthat of 157 million song spins last year, only 12,840 were by legendsSam & Dave for songs like 'Soul Man,' mostly on a shrinking list ofoldies stations. And only 441 spins featured Judy Collins. Not muchmoney on the table for either artist. One estimate puts the payoff at$12K for Sam Moore & Dave Prater and only $900 a year for Collins.
But the big four record companies would each get an estimated $50
million per year."

(The fact that a mere four record labels own most of the music that gets played on the radio explains the disparity).

Where would all of this money come from? Marci Ryvicker of Wachovia Capital Markets estimates that radio stations will owe between $2 and $7 billion per year to labels and artists. As a SoundExchange spokesperson agreed last week, SoundExchange would be the obvious choice for administering the payments, which are split 50-50 between the artists and labels who have become SoundExchange members.

(image from jpp-product)