U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln has issued a news release about her opposition to legislation that would end the practice of letting radio stations play music without compensation to the musicians. Rights payments now go just to song writers and publishers.

Here’s a Los Angeles Times backgrounder.

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The bill making its way through Congress would require AM and FM stations to pay fees, to be split evenly between the artists and copyright owners. The annual flat rate would be calculated according to a radio station’s revenue, with the smallest paying $500 a year, medium-size stations paying as much as $5,000 and the largest paying more.

But foes of the legislation — including the National Assn. of Broadcasters, which represents about 6,500 radio stations — say airplay gives “promotional value” to artists because radio reaches more than 235 million listeners a week, providing free advertising that produces $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion in music sales annually.

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Broadcasters’ opposition to the bill also comes as radio stations, collectively accustomed to earning billions each year, are losing ad revenue.

The legislation has been approved by Democratically controlled committees in the House and Senate. Lincoln’s description of the radio industry as something of a friendly mom-and-pop business doesn’t square with highly concentrated chain ownership, the end of local news and information on most stations and the strictly controlled editorial viewpoints on stations that do provide some informational content.

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