In response to the formation of the advocacy group musicFIRST Coalition, NAB said it will continue to aggressively fight the RIAA’s proposed performance “tax” on local radio stations.
“Congress has long recognized that radio airplay of music generates millions of dollars in revenue for record labels and artists,” said NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton in a statement. “Were it not for radio’s free promotional airplay of music on stations all over America, most successful recording artists would still be playing in a garage.”
Additionally, NAB referenced a radio commercial that aired in 2005 as part of an NAB campaign promoting radio. In it, John Legend, then an up-and-coming new artist, praised and thanked a radio station in Chicago for giving him his big break.
