Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Resolution in Support of the Performance Rights Act

Posted November 16, 2009
12:40 PM PST

Over the weekend of November 14-15, the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO passed a resolution at its Convention in support of the Performance Rights Act and in support of Chairman John Conyers, Jr.

The following is the resolution that was passed.

Fairness in Radio:  A Performance Right for Sound Recordings

WHEREAS, recorded music made in the United States has both significant cultural value and enormous economic importance; and

WHEREAS, the performers who create recorded music, including the featured artists, and the background singers and musicians, work hard to create sound recordings that have artistic merit and commercial value; and

WHEREAS, recording artists, singers, and musicians earn their livelihoods through the creation of sound recordings and deserve the right to be fairly compensated for the use of their work in keeping with the basic principle that a fair day's work deserves a fair day's pay; and

WHEREAS, a glaring anomaly in the U.S. Copyright Act denies performers the right to be compensated for one of the most profitable commercial uses of their work; that is, the broadcast of recordings on AM/FM terrestrial radio; and

WHEREAS, performers in virtually all technologically advanced countries are compensated when their recorded performances are broadcast on radio, and the United States stands alone in denying the right to such an income stream to performers; and

WHEREAS, the free ride given to AM/FM terrestrial radio gives it an unfair competitive advantage over its competitors on Internet and satellite radio, which do pay performers for the use of their work in accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act, and

WHEREAS, The Performance Rights Act has been introduced in both the United States House and Senate to remedy this inequity and requires the right to fair compensation to performers for the broadcast of their recorded works on AM/FM terrestrial radio; and

WHEREAS, The Performance Rights Act has been carefully calibrated to protect small radio stations, public radio stations, educational radio stations and the broadcast of religious services; and

WHEREAS, big corporate radio continues to engage in a smear campaign of misinformation regarding The Performance Rights Act;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO endorses and actively supports the enactment of The Performance Rights Act (H.R. 848, S. 379); and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO expresses its gratitude to Congressman John Conyers, Jr., the sponsor of The Performance Rights Act in the House (H.R. 848) for his tireless support for the right of working singers and musicians to be compensated for their work and for his continued and courageous efforts on behalf of all working Americans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO calls upon the U.S. Congress and the President of the United States to pass The Performance Rights Act and correct the longstanding inequity in the law that denies performers the right to be fairly compensated for the performance of their work on AM/FM terrestrial radio.  

 

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