Former Beatle Paul McCartney recently performed at the White House, and at a press conference responded to a question about royalties for singers, said yes, musicians should be paid. But then he went on to discuss songwriters and internet piracy.
According to an article in Forbes, McCartney went on to say that a struggling young songwriter needs compensation when his work is subject to free distribution.
Of course, songwriters are compensated under the current royalty rules.
McCartney said that he’s had “the best of it” during his career.
He went on to decry the ongoing problems of file-sharing and digital piracy, which have been plaguing the music industry for some time.
RBR-TVBR observation: Nobody thinks musicians should not be paid. The question is whether or not they are being paid fair value by having their music promoted on the radio for free. At the moment, free airplay provides content for stations and promotion for artists. If artists are going to demand a royalty, then the flip side of the coin is that radio stations should be paid for promoting a performer’s music.
Note that McCartney would be the type of musician who would stand to benefit most from PRA the way it is currently listed. The struggling young artists of the world will see no significant benefit until they too are well known and widely played. The fact that it would cost a station to play the struggling newcomer in the first place means they will be less, not more likely to take a chance with the newbie.
