May 5, 2009

The NAB reported Monday morning (May 4) that four members of the Senate and six House members have announced their support for the NAB-backed resolution that rejects the Performance Royalties Act, pending legislation that would authorize fees to be levied on terrestrial broadcasters for airing recorded works.

In the Senate, three Republicans, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Michael Enzi of Wyoming, and one Democrat, Nebraska's Benjamin Nelson, have signed onto the Local Radio Freedom Act, a non-binding, bipartisan resolution that gives legislators an opportunity to go on record against the measure. In the House, four Republicans -- John Campbell of California, John Duncan of Tennessee, William "Mac" Thornberry of Texas, and former presidential hopeful Ron Paul, also a Texan, have signed aboard along with Democrats Dan Boren of Oklahoma and Kansas' Dennis Moore. The House now has 184 co-sponsors, and backers of the resolution are looking to get 218 backers which would be a majority of the 435-member House, which they believe will send a message to leadership that there is not enough support to push through the royalty act legislation. But even if the drive falls short of the 218 and gets some 180 or more signatures, resolution proponents think Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers and other co-sponsors of H.R. 848 could back off their push to make the measure law.
 
But Conyers has also already vowed to give it a good fight. Speaking to a pre-Grammy Awards music community Town Hall at the Staples Center in January, the veteran Democrat legislator from Motown said he expected a massive fight to push through the legislation this year, but promised he’d give it his all.

But the Free Radio Alliance is ready to take on Conyers and the performance rights lobby, musicFirst. On Tuesday morning (May 5), the NAB-backed lobbying group will group plans a “Congressional Staff briefing on the negative impact the performance tax” will have on the radio industry.

The assembly includes Univision Radio morning personality Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo – “Piolín por la Mañana,” along with industry executives Bustos Media chairman/CEO Amador Bustos, Salem Espanol National Sales Director Tony Calatayud, Gaytan Broadcasting owner and operator Maria De Leon, Spanish Broadcasting System VP/GM Frank Flores, Entravision VP for public affairs Marcelo Gaete, Top Line Broadcasting president/CEO Rafael Grullon, Lazer Broadcasting president/CEO Alfredo Plascencia, Norsan Multimedia president/CEO Norberto Sanchez, Univision Radio president/COO Gary Stone, and Border Media Partners VP/market manager Miguel Villarreal along with Francisco Montero, co-managing partner with the law firm of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth who will moderate the hour-long session which begins at 10 a.m.

For more updates and articles about the Performance Tax go to http://www.noperformancetax.org/newsroom.asp.