75% of Americans Do Not Support Airplay Royalties

RADIO ONLINE | , , | :am CT

A majority of Americans oppose legislation backed by RIAA that would levy royalties on local radio outlets for airplay. According to a poll released Thursday by the NAB, 75% of participants do not support the proposed legislation. 85% recognize the promotional value radio airplay brings to artists and their music.

The poll comes as Congressional opposition continues to grow. Senator James Inhofe (OK), has become the most recent lawmaker to express opposition to the recording industry-backed legislation. Currently, a bipartisan group of 251 House lawmakers and 26 U.S. Senators oppose royalties on local radio stations for airplay.

As part of the survey, 85% of those polled agreed with the statement that read, "Songs played on the radio help drive music sales, generating record sales annually for performers." Results here showed that 64% "strongly agreed" and 21% "somewhat agreed" with the statement.

Commenting on the study NAB Executive VP Dennis Wharton said, "This survey demonstrates that the more Americans know about a proposed performance tax, the more likely they are to they oppose it. Simply put, a performance tax is bad for free, local radio. It's bad for radio's 235 million weekly listeners. And it's bad for the legions of new and legacy artists whose careers were launched and nurtured by free radio airplay."

The survey, commissioned by NAB, was conducted by Wilson Research Strategies, a Washington, DC-based firm.

Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee has voted to approve the Performance Rights Act, introduced by Finance Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The House version of the bill has already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by the bills author Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).