Award Winning Recording Artists Invalidate MusicFirst’s Campaign…

Tuesday, November, 24, 2009 by Mel Phillips.

Every time a recording artist thanks radio for free airplay, musicFIRST and RIAA take it on the chin. These two organizations are at the forefront of a campaign to get Congress to enforce a law that would require that terrestrial radio pony-up by paying a performance tax for all the music they play. To-date, no vote on the bill has been scheduled in either congressional house and the hope is that opposing sides can reach a settlement by compromising. Thanks to Keith Urban, Country act Gloriana and the new queen of pop — Taylor Swift, musicFIRST and RIAA just lost some juice. All of those AMA Award winning artists thanked radio for their airplay in their acceptance speeches. Swift, AMA Artist of the Year and hottest artist on the planet, put it this way: “I want to say thank you to Country radio for giving the fans a chance to hear my music.” At that point, musicFIRST and RIAA members reached for about a gallon of Pepto…

Back in 2008, then-Stanford economics professor Dr. James Dertouzos conducted an analysis of album and digital track sales, factored in radio airplay’s promotional role in increasing ticket sales at concerts, which was reported to be a $2.8 billion a year business in 2006 by Billboard and came up with the value of local radio airplay and its impact on the recording industry. His study revealed that $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion in annual music sales are generated through free radio airplay. That report issued by the NAB can be seen here…

The good professor has gone on to the Rand Institute but the sale of music can’t be that far off those 2008 numbers. In checking retail figures just two weeks ago, about 15 albums have sold one million or more units. Taylor Swift has sold more than $8 million with two albums. Is this justification for a performance tax???     

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1859] The Grandfather of “Cavemen”: British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species” which explains his theory of evolution…
2. 1871] The Grandfather of the NRA: The National Rifle Association is incorporated and its first president is Major General Ambrose E. Burnside…
3. 1953] One by one: New Brooklyn Dodger manager Walter Alston signs the 1st of 23-one year contracts…
4. 1963] Live from Dallas: Jack Ruby shoots and mortally wounds Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy. This happened live on television - still hard to believe.  Here’s the video clip…
5. 1963] The games must go on ?: The NBA, NHL and AFL cancel their scheduled games, the NFL does not. Pete Rozelle considered this his worst decision as NFL commissioner…
6. 1969] Guilty as charged: Lt. William Calley is charged with the massacre of over 100 civilians in My Lai, Vietnam in March, 1968…
7. 1971] AWOL with ransom: Hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes from a Northwest flight over Washington State with $200,000 in ransom. His fate is still unknown…
8. 1985] “Happy Trails”: Big Joe Turner dies of a heart attack at 74…1991] Freddie Mercury of Queen dies of AIDS at 45…
9. 1998] Wedding Bells: AOL confirms that its buying Netscape for $10 billion…
10. 2003] Death sentence: A jury in Virginia Beach, VA, sentences John Allen Muhammad to death for the Washington-area sniper shootings…








Music Memories:

• 1966] Recorded on this date: The Beatles begin recording the “Sgt. Pepper” LP…








“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“:

Katherine Heigl (31), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (53), Stanley (Chip) Livingston (59), Donald “Duck” Dunn (68), Pete Best (68), Paul Tagliabue (69) and Oscar Robertson (71)…








Timeline Countdown: 3 days until Thanksgiving, 18 days until Hanukah, 29 days until winter and 32 days until Christmas…

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