Anderson@Large

Free Press Summit: Ideas to Action

I am on my way to DC for the Free Press Summit. Hundreds of policy makers and media justice activists attend this annual event.

The summit will kick off with a session on “Media and Democracy in the Digital Age,” which will feature keynote remarks from Commissioner Mignon Clyburn on the Federal Communications Commission’s role in the media.

I am looking forward to the panel discussion on “Social Media, Social Justice and the Future of the Internet” with Jose Antonio Vargas, James Rucker, Deanna Zandt and Andrew Noyes.

The discussion should be lively. It comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at Hampton University, during which he bemoaned the ubiquity of social media:

And meanwhile, you’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.

Sure, it’s a distraction, but information is power. So, I’ll be tweeting away. You can follow my Twitter updates.

The event will be live streamed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST here.

Diversity, Civil Rights and Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission will hold a staff workshop, “Diversity and Civil Rights Issues in Broadband Deployment and Adoption,” on Friday. The workshop will focus on the impact of the lack of access to this critical infrastructure on communities of color.

Nearly 15 years ago, civil rights activists mobilized to include affordable Internet access for schools and libraries in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. So, when you connect to the Internet at a public library, well, you can thank me and other advocates.

Today, being on the wrong side of the digital divide limits one’s educational, employment and business opportunities, as well as access to news and information.

The presenters include my longtime friend David Honig, president and executive director of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. David says the workshop matters because:

This is the best opportunity thus far to develop a record on the issues we all care about.

BTW, the FCC’s diversity czar, Mark Lloyd, is the coordinator for the workshop. Lloyd, who is in Glenn Beck’s cross-hairs, will moderate two of the three panels.

The workshop will be webcast, beginning at 9:00am ET. To register for the webinar go here.

You can also join the conversation via email or Twitter.

For more info, contact Mark Lloyd here.

The Business of Music: The Remix

I am a policy wonk. I am more comfortable writing about, say, broadband adoption than race.

But race and public policy often intersect so my beach staycation reading includes “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation.”

The increasingly nasty battle over artists getting paid today moves to the Senate, where the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on “The Performance Rights Act and Parity among Music Delivery Platforms.” The witnesses will include Sheila E and James L. Winston, executive director and general counsel of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

Though “fair pay for airplay” on its face is race neutral, the “Performance Rights Act” has become a civil rights issue for supporters of the legislation. Supporters like the NAACP and Dionne Warwick.

At its Centennial Convention, the NAACP passed a resolution in support of H.R. 848, introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr.:

WHEREAS H.R. 848 ends a decades old, outdated exemption from the copyright laws that allows radio stations to exploit African-American and other musicians by not paying them for their music when it airs on radio. Every modern country requires radio stations to compensate musicians, and copyright law requires that artists be compensated in every other circumstance – when their music is played on satellite radio, downloaded from iTunes or even played at a local bar. H.R. 848 is about ending the exploitation of African-American musicians and paying them a fair wage for their work.

WHEREAS H.R. 848 is a labor issue: H.R. 848 is about paying artists for their work. A fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay; that’s a plain and simple truth that is American as apple pie. And it’s a principle inviolable to the labor movement.

WHEREAS H.R. 848 is a civil rights issue: Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis to ensure that sanitation workers got paid a fair wage. Compensating people fairly for their work is a basic civil right. We did not wage a civil rights movement to enable a few rich African American millionaires exploit and hoodwink African-American musicians…

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the NAACP endorses and supports H.R. 848, The Civil Rights for Musicians Act of 2009 and call on the NAACP units and members throughout the country to contact its Congressional members and Senators and the President of the United States to pass this measure into law so America’s performers can receive the respect they so long deserve.

The Senate hearing will be webcast here, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The Business of Music

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today on “trends affecting minority broadcast ownership.”

Minority-owned broadcasters allege paying artists performance royalties will put them out of business. Indeed, Radio One Founder and Chairperson Cathy Hughes issued an urgent call to action to “save BLACK RADIO!!”:

And in the midst of this economic depression, black radio stations simply do not have that financial ability.

The musicFIRST Coalition has compiled a list of questions (and answers) for Committee members to ask Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins III, including:

1. How can you accept a $10 million bonus and continue to shortchange artists and musicians? (Answer: Beats us!)
2. How can you accept a 70 percent pay raise and continue to stiff arm the artists and musicians who make your paycheck possible? (Answer: We are still at a loss for words.)
3. How many radio stations does Radio One own? (Answer: A lot.)
4. Isn’t Radio One the 8th largest radio ownership groups in the country? (Answer: YES, they are big.)
5. Is Radio One operating in the RED? (Answer: NO, Radio One had operating income of at least $130 million and operating margins of more than 40 percent over the last three years.)

Update: Hughes and Liggins refused to appear before the Committee.

In a statement, Thomas F. Lee, president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, said:

Ms. Hughes and Radio One have been vocal critics of the H.R. 848, running negative ads on many of her 51 radio stations that criticize both the measure and its sponsor, Congressman John Conyers. Radio One has repeatedly asked for an opportunity to raise their concerns, and today Chairman Conyers gave them the opportunity – which they declined.

Radio One and Cathy Hughes can’t have it both ways. They can’t stand outside the tent and criticize the Performance Rights Act, and when invited inside the tent to share their views, refuse to participate.

In an entirely unrelated drama, sometimes a song is about more than the business of music. Sometimes it’s eerily prophetic.

I Believe in Music

Black Music Month ends tomorrow.

But there’s no end to speculation about the state of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s marriage and political future.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign musicFirst’s petition in support of artists getting paid.

Consider: Billboard reports that airplay for Michael Jackson’s music increased 1,735 percent. "Billie Jean" alone had 4,540 plays (up from 318 the week before).

Under current law, Michael Jackson’s estate will not get a dime from radio stations that have played his songs in a continuous loop since his untimely death.

While the world mourns the loss of an American icon, things could be finer in Carolina, where Jenny Sanford reportedly discovered her husband’s affair after coming across a letter from Maria Belen Chapur, the Other Woman.

Once again, life imitates art.

Performance Artists Want Money

June is Black Music Month. But they won’t be dancing in the street in the Motor City.

Detroit City Councilwoman Martha Reeves, former lead singer of the Vandellas, will testify before an “awareness for fairness” town hall meeting convened by Rep. John Conyers Jr., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Other witnesses will include Dionne Warwick, Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, and Abdul “Duke” Fakir of the Four Tops.

Fakir testified before the Committee in support of H.R. 848, the “Performance Rights Act.” He told the Detroit News:

The way I presented the bill to a lot of Congress people, I turned a couple of heads on it. Some of them didn’t know that everything else in radio is paid. Whether you talk, you walk, whatever you do, it’s paid -- except for the performers on disc.

Opponents claim Conyers’ bill would impose a “performance tax” on local radio stations. They accuse performance artists and record labels of being greedy ingrates:

In recent years, the record labels have seen sales of albums decline as more listeners opt for digital downloads. However, radio remains the number one promotional vehicle for music – it’s not responsible for the label’s resistance to the digital age, and it shouldn’t be on the hook to fix it. Radio already provides between $1.5 to $2.4 billion dollars annually in music sales for artists and record labels. By pushing a tax on local radio, record labels are biting the hand that feeds them.

Not so, says Fakir:

There has been misinformation, particularly in Detroit, coming from (Radio One CEO) Cathy Hughes, that this is some sort of tax. It’s not a tax, it’s something that’s long overdue.

Death of Black Radio

To hear the National Association of Broadcasters tell it, last week’s vote by the House Judiciary Committee to require radio stations to pay performance royalties sounded the death knell for “America’s hometown radio stations.”

By a vote of 21 to 9, the Committee passed H.R. 848, the “Performance Rights Act,” introduced by Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., who represents Detroit, the birthplace of Motown Records. A music lover, Conyers organizes a jazz concert and gospel extravaganza during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference.

If signed into law, the Act would require radio stations to pay a fee to record labels, which would split the royalties with performance artists. Currently, only songwriters and publishers are paid royalties by terrestrial radio stations.

In an interview with “Open Line” on 98.7 KISS FM, NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton questioned why “record labels would bite the hand that feeds them”:

Radio stations are the best promotional vehicle that record labels and their artists have ever seen.

Wharton claims NAB is standing up for “local radio, not foreign record labels”:

If it’s about fairness to artists, why would Congress give any money to record labels given how they have treated artists?

NAB estimates performance royalties would cost radio stations an additional $2 billion to $7 billion a year.

Cathy Hughes, founder and chairperson of Radio One, issued an urgent call to action:

The John Conyers Performance Tax Bill is the brain child of the foreign owned record industry who would receive at least 50% of the revenue that would be charged to radio stations in order for them to play music. The music that you now receive free from us - we would have to pay millions of dollars for.

And in the midst of this economic depression, black radio stations simply do not have that financial ability.

Hughes urged listeners to call or email Conyers:

TELL HIM that you oppose this bill that would murder Black owned radio and the free music that you now hear on all free radio stations. In the midst of an American economic recession, it is not the right time to send millions of dollars to foreign owned record companies that don’t even pay taxes like you and me in this country. This bill is not in the interest of Black people! Please help us save Black radio!

Truth be told, there is nothing to save. Black radio died a long ago.

Meanwhile, the musicFIRST Coalition, which includes the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, wants radio listeners to “join the fight for performance rights” and call their Representative and tell them to support Conyers’ bill.