Ongoing attempts to force terrestrial radio stations in the US to pay royalties to record companies for the music they play will continue, with legislation proposals submitted to the US Congress prior to last year's elections about to be resubmitted.
The original proposals didn't reach their conclusion before the all new Congress, ie with the Congressmen who won seats at last year's elections in place, kicked off on 3 Jan, requiring the proposals to be submitted a new for consideration by the latest batch of Senators and Representatives.
As previously reported, US radio stations, unlike radio stations in most other Western economies, don't have to pay a royalty to record companies for the music they play because of the old adage that radio airplay equals free advertising for the music firms (they do, in case you're interested, pay a royalty to a song's publisher).
The record companies haven't been especially pleased with that set up for a long time, but the issue has risen in importance as the labels increasingly rely on royalty revenues to combat declining record sales, and because new online music services and radio stations do have to pay royalties to the labels, and they argue terrestrial stations are therefore at an unfair advantage.
The proposed Performers Rights Act proposes introducing royalties to be paid by the radio firms, and a letter signed by members of the House Of Representatives Judiciary Committee has confirmed the proposals will be resubmitted to Congress this week. The US's National Association Of Broadcasters will presumably continue to lobby against the proposals.