Record companies ask government to tax their product

Foster's Conor Makem reports on federal efforts to force radio stations to pay records companies more for playing their music on the radio:

HR848, the Performance Rights Act, proposes that they pay a fee to all performing musicians on a recording whenever it is played over the air. The problem, critics say, is that the stations already pay for playing music.

"I understand that everyone needs to make a living, but I think this is a double whammy on the radio stations, because we're already paying the people who wrote the songs," says Dover's WOKQ Operations Manager Mark Ericson. "Essentially we're giving a giant commercial for these record labels, and now we're going to get charged for it." (more)

Radio stations already pay royalties everytime they spin a record, though they use a complicated and inaccurate formula to calculate how much. I used to fill out the paperwork each month. If a record company tried to get a higher royalty rate for the music it controls, radio stations might play other music instead. Prices work that way.

Instead, the industry has turned to government to raise prices across the board, and give them the money. They have every right to ask for whatever price they like for their product. They shouldn't be allowed to fix their prices in order to make up for their failure to adjust to the age of Free.