These 126 members of Congress don’t think musicians deserve to get paid when they are played on the radio
A resolution opposing “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge” on broadcast radio stations now has 112 cosponsors in the US House of Representative and 14 in the Senate.
The Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA) signals members of Congress’s opposition to any potential legislation that imposes new performance royalties on broadcast radio stations for music airplay.
Unlike every other developed country in the world, under current US law, songwriters are paid when a song is played on the radio, but the performer of the song is not.
“Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over the air, or on any business for the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station broadcast over the air.” – Local Radio Freedom Act.
The 112 House cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act include (new cosponsors in bold):
| Rick Allen (R-GA-12) Mark Amodei (R-NV-2) Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19) Brian Babin (R-TX-36) Don Bacon (R-NE-2) Troy Balderson (R-OH-12) Jim Banks (R-IN-3) Joyce Beatty (D-OH-3) Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12) Mike Bost (R-IL-12) Brendan Boyle (D-PA-2) Mo Brooks (R-AL-5) Anthony Brown (D-MD-4) Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17) Ken Calvert (R-CA-42) Jerry Carl (R-AL-1) Andre Carson (D-IN-7) Buddy Carter (R-GA-1) Kathy Castor (D-FL-14) Steve Chabot (R-OH-1) Tom Cole (R-OK-4) James Comer (R-KY-1) Jim Costa (D-CA-16) Joe Courtney (D-CT-2) Rick Crawford (R-AR-1) Henry Cueller (D-TX-28) Rodney Davis (R-IL-13) Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12) Tom Emmer (R-MN-6) Dwight Evans (D-PA-3) Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1) Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE-1) Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5) Scott Franklin (R-FL-15) Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) Mike Garcia (R-CA-25) Bob Gibbs (R-OH-7) Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH-16) Vincente Gonzalez (D-TX-15) Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR-AL) Paul Gosar (R-AZ-4) Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-5) Kay Granger (R-TX-12) Sam Graves (R-MO-6) Glenn Grothman (R-WI-6) Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2) Jim Hagedorn (R-MN-1) French Hill (R-AR-2) Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN-9) Richard Hudson (R-NC-8) Bill Johnson (R-OH-6) Dusty Johnson (R-SD-AL) Mike Johnson (R-LA-4) Jim Jordan (R-OH-4) Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9) Bill Keating (D-MA-9) | Fred Keller (R-PA-12) Mike Kelly (R-PA-16) Andy Kim (D-NJ-3) Ron Kind (D-WI-3) Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-16) Annie Kuster (D-NH-2) Doug Lamborn (R-CO-5) Bob Latta (R-OH-5) Al Lawson (D-FL-5) Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO-3) Elaine Luria (D-VA-2) Stephen Lynch (D-MA-8) Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-7) Thomas Massie (R-KY-4) Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) Dan Meuser (R-PA-9) Seth Moulton (D-MA-6) Markwayne Mullin (R-OK-2) Greg Murphy (R-NC-3) Ralph Norman (R-SC-5) Devin Nunes (R-CA-22) Steven Palazzo (R-MS-4) Chris Pappas (D-NH-1) Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ-10) Greg Pence (R-IN-6) Scott Perry (R-PA-10) Dean Phillips (D-MN-3) Bill Posey (R-FL-8) Hal Rogers (R-KY-5) Mike Rogers (R-AL-3) David Rouzer (R-NC-7) Bobby Rush (D-IL-1) Gregorio Sablan (D-MP-AL) Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) Kurt Schrader (D-OR-5) David Scott (D-GA-13) Mike Simpson (R-ID-2) Pete Stauber (R-MN-8) Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) Van Taylor (R-TX-3) Claudia Tenney (R-NY-22) Glenn Thompson (R-PA-15) Tom Tiffany (R-WI-7) William Timmons (R-SC-4) Michael Turner (R-OH-10) Fred Upton (R-MI-6) Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-2) Filemon Vela (D-TX-34) Tim Walberg (R-MI-7) Jackie Walorski (R-IN-2) Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4) Joe Wilson (R-SC-2) Rob Wittman (R-VA-1) Steve Womack (R-AR-3) Don Young (R-AK-AL) Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1) |
The Local Radio Freedom Act’s 14 Senate cosponsors are (new cosponsors in bold):
| John Barrasso (R-WY) John Boozman (R-AR) Susan Collins (R-ME) Mike Crapo (R-ID) Steve Daines (R-MT) Joni Ernst (R-IA) Maggie Hassan (D-NH) | Martin Heinrich (D-NM) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) Roger Marshall (R-KS) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Jon Tester (D-MT) Todd Young (R-IN) |
