Here’s an idea on the issue of royalty fees, (6/27/08 RBR #126):
Here is an off the wall idea. Why not pay royalties to artists in exchange for a thirty or sixty day (or some negotiated formula) exclusive radio broadcast-only airplay before songs were released to other distribution systems including the Internet.
Radio gets the exclusive for a period of time–much like the way movies are first released to hard-top theaters, then to DVD, then to pay cable, then to cable, then to broadcast TV.
Artists get a huge promotion window for their songs and vast audiences is driven back to radio where the market originally turned for first.
Gordon H. Hastings
President
Broadcasters’ Foundation of America
