Will Conyers radio bill drasticly effect who's on the charts?

A proposed bill pushed by Representative John Conyers for radio has been causing an uproar for black radio,  with protest for some artist for it, and most radio and industry people against it.

The bill proposes that radio must pay an upfront free to the artist who’s song are played.

As of right now, radio only has to pay a blanket license to agencies like ASCAP, BMI & SESAC for the music it plays, which is then chopped up and distributes to royalties to the respective parties. I break down the benefits of these organizations in my previous post about who pays the most royalties.

While this bill in theory sounds good for the artist,  forces the haves to break bread with the have nots in a more fair percentage, it’s too many loopholes in the bill that can backfire the good intentions..

If the bill passes and radio has to pay every time up front for each spin, that will mean even LESS artist getting play in a already compressed playlist so the radio can save money in an already declining format.

Basically its only like 10 artist who get regular rotation anyway..lol, this bill will surprise that number even further,  which lessons the chances of new or unproven artist getting mainstream radio play, more so than it is now….

If you thought the radio plays the same songs by the same artist all the time before…

As a producer trying to put work out this puts a big dent in your opportunities to produce a big local or regional hit that can build your buzz or credits, because if the radio has to pay a fee every time a song plays, they are going to do it for already established starts to go for the ’safe’ buy. Giving a new or up and commer a shot will be looked at as even MORE so a gamble than it already is now with the restricting matter of playlist on commercial radio.

Here’s more in depth information on the Conyers Radio Bill

http://detnews.com/article/20090514/ENT04/905140480/Protest-over-Conyers-bill-angers-Duke-Fakir