U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn, Alex Padilla, Thom Tillis, and Cory Booker have introduced the bipartisan American Music Fairness Act. This legislation aims to ensure that artists and music creators receive compensation for their songs played on AM/FM radio. Currently, the United States is unique among democratic nations in not requiring such payments.
Senator Blackburn emphasized Tennessee’s rich musical heritage, stating, “The United States is the only democratic country in the world in which artists are not paid for the use of their music on AM and FM radio.” Senator Padilla noted that California’s artists deserve fair pay for their contributions to AM/FM broadcasts. Senator Tillis described the bill as a commonsense step toward recognizing artists’ value, while Senator Booker highlighted its importance in closing a loophole denying royalties to musicians.
Representative Darrell Issa is introducing companion legislation in the House. He remarked, “Now is the time for the United States to finally adopt the proven global standard of compensating our artists for music broadcast over the radio.”
The American Music Fairness Act would require terrestrial radio broadcasters to pay performance royalties and includes provisions to protect small and local stations with revenue below specific thresholds. The act also seeks to create a fair global market by ensuring foreign countries compensate U.S. artists.
The bill has garnered endorsements from several organizations including the Recording Academy and SAG-AFTRA. Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, stated, “For more than a century, American artists and producers have been denied the basic right to earn compensation for their own creation broadcast on AM/FM Radio.” Fran Drescher of SAG-AFTRA called it “downright un-American” not to pay recording artists for airplay.
Dr. Richard James Burgess of A2IM criticized existing laws aligning with regimes like Iran and North Korea that exploit American musicians without payment. Mitch Glazier from RIAA praised AMFA’s approach to solving longstanding issues in radio broadcasting.
Michael Huppe of SoundExchange pointed out that large radio companies profit without paying artists due to an existing loophole. Tino Gagliardi from AFM asserted that AMFA would correct this disparity and align U.S. practices with other democracies.
