"Why Not!?"

Perhaps a grass roots public awareness campaign should be considered to expose how David Rehr and his employers are abusing the artist in America. Crayons and banners would be a great start.

Rehr\'s out of his mind if he thinks the smirking chimp in office is going to do anything for him.

Not sure why you give the President a pass here, Ryan. "No earthly idea what you are talking about?" Really? Seems like someone could have briefed him on this issue by this point. Not to bash this President, but is anyone really surprised that he had no earthy idea?

This is an area where the broadcasting industry has it right. Granted, there's a symbiotic relationship between artists and radio stations. But terrestrial stations document the use of the songwriters' works they play, and pay to use those works.
Both record companies and artists benefit from radio airplay, as well as satellite and Internet plays. If the audience likes the artist's work, then it'll sell in the stores, and artists and composers benefit.
If anyone thinks for one moment that the RIAA cares a whit about artist compensation, much has been written about how record company contracts rip artists off. And if the recording industry truly cared about things, they'd streamline the distribution system so it wouldn't cost so much to legally buy music, and they'd put promotional bucks behind more diverse acts.
Satellite and the Internet are the artist's friends. I've bought lots of music because I've heard it on the Net and on XM, and till radio became so homogenized, it was a good source for new music. In essence, airplay of a four-minute song is a programming tool for radio but also a free ad for the CD or download. Don't let feelings about the NAB's merger opposition influence you into thinking they're wrong about everything.
Study your history. The recording industry has always opposed innovation, even when they've benefited from it.

artist need to get paid ,I agree with the fact promotional vaule comes via radio play ,but the field needs to level in todays digital world.

one very low rate for all aural platforms. paid to a single agency or group...its time has come to correct this mess

I completely agree that there's a promotional value for airing the music, but why should the songwriters and publishers be the only ones who get paid by terrestrial? The performers should get a piece of the pie - like they get from Satellite and Internet.

It should be the same for all broadcasters. And if terrestrial was actually paying their dues, the burden would be less on other burgeoning services.

I'm obviously not ignoring the fact that the music industry is a bunch of scumbags. They're totally focusing their efforts on litigation rather than innovation. And I hate the current system. But there's little hopes that it will get drastically changed anytime soon. It's ridiculous.

But it's not like terrestrial radio has any "noble" intentions of promoting artists either. They play limited playlists to maximize advertising revenue. It has nothing to do with the promotional value for the artist. It has everything to do with targeting the demographic with the highest amount of expendable income.

A commenter from a previous post pointed out that the terrestrial radio industry last year pulled in $21 Billion in revenue, while the music industry pulled in around $12 Billion. That says something.

These aren't poor "mom & pop" radio stations struggling to make ends meat. These are big corporations selling a product - at a discount over their competitors - to the highest bidder. Talk about a business model.

sounds like the baby who went to the principal

i'm sure if illegal aliens demand it, then bush would listen and approve.

what do you expect????this stupid bastard has/had "no earthly idea" on IRAQ..what makes you think he has a idea on this...

im a sirius sub,and basically could care less if the merger goes through or not..there is nothing on XM that interests me that sirius doesnt already have

Is the Prez savvy only about war issues? This gives credence to accusations of "war mongerer".

Reality check time - the vast majority of people in this country have no idea that artists DON'T currently receive royalties for airplay. It's people like us (readin things like Orbitcast) who are the outliers.

Bash Bush all you want, but I can think of about a million things I'd rather a President be worrying about than this issue.