Today
the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing on “The
Performance Rights Act and Parity among Music Delivery Platforms.” Artists, record
label representatives and others will be testifying in favor of enactment of
the bill which will provide for a right of public performance for the owners of
sound recording copyrights. Labels,
musicians and featured recording artists stand to gain from passage of this
bill. Radio does not and will be testifying today in opposition to the
bill.
Owners of rights in the underlying musical composition -- songwriters and music publishers-- have long had a right of public performance and are currently being paid a royalty for performances of their musical compositions -- by radio, TV, venues and others. These royalties are collected in the U.S. by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, who then distribute them to their songwriter and publisher members.
If you are interested in following this afternoon's debate you can view it here.

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