Artists should pay radio stations to play their music.
Remember when radio could secretly charge musicians to play their music? Alan Freed made it popular and profitable. That is when record companies and artists thought radio had value. Maybe they still do even though the feds have made the practice illegal.
Now, because the current model no longer works, they want radio stations to pay for the right to promote and build reputational currency for their creations by charging RIAA, ASCAP, BMI and ASCAP fees.
Radio stations pay hefty annual FCC spectrum fees and have the legal right to play whatever they want. Soon we will choose to play royalty-free music from China and Brazil. Think about the billions (not zero) of dollars of celebrity and credibility these foreigners will receive from free radio.
Musicians/record companies need to look for other ways to derive revenue instead of killing the golden goose: Radio! Music will be free soon enough — in much the same way that record companies, travel agents and movie rental stores are dropping like flies.
Rick L. Murphy
Chairman
Mad Dog Wireless Inc.
Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
