Did you know the NAB has been working hard for the benefit of Part 15 broadcasters?
As you know, even a Part 15 station is required to pay for the rights to broadcast music. Just like commercial and non-com stations do. We need pay BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, or reach a specific agreement with each. These groups pay the WRITERS of the songs. They do not pay the performers or the record companies. Just so you're aware.
About 10 years ago a HUGE push was underway by the music industry to force radio to pay the artists as well. The NAB was portraying this as a "performance tax". This was a HUGE thing for those of us in the industry. HUGE. This would cost stations several thousands of dollars a year, which would be a huge hit especially Mom and Pop size stations. The NAB sprang into action, lobbying congress, attending hearings, and spreading a nation-wide ad campaign that ran on thousands of stations encouraging the public to contact their congressmen and insist this would damage local radio, be bad for business, put small stations out of business, and raise advertising costs for small businesses, etc... and explained that for decades radio had provided airplay for free to artists to expose their music to the public in exchange for the rights to play that music. There were NAB sponsored websites, sample letters for people to use to write their congressmen, and produced ads that ran all over the country. In the end the performance tax did not become law. I even wrote a rather long editorial about it that was published on my website, the websites of both the stations I work for, and was also linked and referred to in may other station sites. AMazingly enough I still have it online. If you care to read it remember that it's ten years old now so any links within are probably not working and the state have changed, but it's posted at:
http://www.edselmotors.com/performancetax.html
Now over the past year the music industry has again brought up the idea of this performance tax, and again the NAB has sprung into action. So far they're just running "pro local radio" spots to prepare people and get their mindset going in the right direction, that radiio needs to be protected from increased costs, etc.
As when it comes to music licensing, what affects the big guys, affects us too. This is one instance where indirectly the NAB and their lobbiests and money are working for YOU.
Tim in Bovey
I don't agree with the 'tax', but it may be difficult to stop this time. Canada already has it, and we also have a different licensing body to handle it - Re Sound (as opposed to SOCAN for the artists). The only positive thing is that performances in Canada are in the public domain 50 years from the end of the calendar year that they were released. That means that anything prior to 1964 right now can legally be broadcast without paying Re Sound (you still have to pay SOCAN, although songs themselves go into the public domain 50 or 75 years after the death of the last credited writer, depending on the year the song was written).
OK so this may work for part 15 too. It would be great if that were to happen and the two groups could work together. Until now I thought they were not working for part 15. So I guess if I'm missing something all this time I stand corrected in some statements made earlier.