Bud Walters Predicts 25% Will Abandon Music Radio

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Cromwell Group President Bud Walters said Thursday in comments regarding the Performance Rights Act that writers royalties now paid through ASCAP, BMI and SESAC will "inevitably decline." He predicts that as many as 25% of music stations (about 3000) could flip to News, Talk or Sports. "Proponents of the Bill say that writers will be protected," said Walters. "But, how can they be when radio stations switch to Talk or Sports?"

Walters also pointed out that most performers/writers don't realize that 50% of any monies received will go "to the mostly international music companies." Only 45% of the proposed monies will go to performers and 5% to unions. "The Performers Royalty Bill is just one more bad deal for writers and performers favoring the international record companies," he exclaimed.

"We hear of older artists testifying before Congress," Walters noted, "that their music is being played on the radio and the radio stations are making tons of money and not paying them. But who made the deal with the record company? Who has been making money all these years from the releases, re-releases, and compilations? Certainly the record company has. Why didn't they share it with these older artists?"

"A radio licensee's only source of revenue is advertising, which at the moment is in the tank," Walters continued. "Free over the air radio does not receive a subscription fee and generally is not downloadable. Radio still reaches more than 90% of the U.S. population (270 million+ people) each week for free, but revenues are certainly not up for most."