Clear Channel Forcing Artists To Waive Rights & Royalties To Participate In FCC Mandated Indie Music Program
Part of the recent settlement between the FCC and major radio groups ending a probe into payola charges was a promise of greater access to the airwaves for independent music.
The nations largest broadcast group Clear Channel decided to keep that promise with an ongoing "NEW! Discover Artists" campaign that would offer selected artists a broad range of exposure on some Clear Channel stations and online. But the exposure – which is still not well defined – comes at a price.
To even be considered for the program artists and songwriters must agree to a wordy and confusing 8 page contract that effectively grants Clear Channel the right to do almost whatever is pleases with the song without out paying any royalties. The contract reads in part:
"You grant to Clear Channel the royalty-free non-exclusive right and license, in perpetuity (unless terminated earlier by You or Clear Channel as set forth below), to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, digitally perform, publicly display and distribute any sound recordings, compositions, pictures…submitted by You to us on this website (the
“Site”)…and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, the Content, in connection with the preparation transmission, operation, production and advertising…""…Further, you acknowledge that all downloads…will be in an unprotected format and Clear Channel is not responsible and disclaims all liability for further copying of this file…" (Read the full contract here.)
COMMENTARY: Waiving royalties on a limited basis for a specific purpose is a reality of Music 2.0. If you’ve got to give a little away to get people interested; no big deal. But waiving all rights without a
specific benefit is another story.
Is ripping off indie musicians and labels really what the FCC had in mind? At least when somebody slipped the PD some cash they knew what they’d get in return: not just the vague possibility of 2 AM airplay and a photo buried a web site.
Yikes…the “in perpetuity” part is what’s scary — if one of these bands becomes the next U2 they’ll have to remember that they’d agreed to this and try to terminate it.
co-sign with vinnie…if Clear Channel makes your song a hit, they can do whatever they want with the song, the recording, and even photos of the artist/band without paying YOU a dime? Where’s the incentive…
Also, even if you do hit through Clear Channel and terminate after the first hit, who’s to say that Clear Channel won’t blacklist the artist for terminating their “deal” with Sata…Clear Channel? It’s a tough call if your a struggling artist. There’s no telling how much money you might be compromising in terms of the future.
Excellent post! I’m glad someone caught this. If I recall someone caught something similar with MySpace and they changed some of the “giving up of rights” parts in their terms of service.
Clear channel is quite a giant to mess with but If they put you in rotation small chance but worth it I have my new 8th.c.d.”The phoenix,ready for the club” selling on Apple I-Tunes and they have a place in their directory that shows locals radio station rotation charts so Apple I-Tunes sales increase alone would put a smile on your face. Maybe worth a shot. Listen to my sound at home website free .http://www.madcapsyndrome.com
for a company with a market cap of BILLIONS it’s utterly incomprehensible that they can be so plainly ignorant about music…I think that the only thing that could make this company come to it’s senses is a smashing of the stock prices.
You still make your BMI/ASCAP income. They only force you to waive the re-broadcast on Internet performance income which is also split between the artist and the record labels. It’s too small to even worry about. Clear channel already pays into ASCAP and BMI to be able to play music over the radio waves. This internet re-broadcast money you give up is probably equal to the payola money you don’t have to come up with. It’s a wash…take the airplay.