A group of 125 musicians, including names like Billy Joel, Rihanna, Missy Elliot and Maroon 5 are fighting against the "Internet Radio Fairness Act," which if passed, will reduce royalties for artists. Pandora, an automated music recommendations service, is currently pushing lawmakers in the U.S. Congress to pass the act.
MusicFIRST, which represents artists and their right, along with non-profit performance rights organization, Sound Exchange, announced that an open letter, "A Musicians' Perspective On Pandora," has received signatures from over 125 artists. Big names like Clint Black, Vince Gill, Jana Kramer and T.I. are among the list of signatories.
Artists are worried that the bill would cut their royalties from online radio services in a big way, downgrading fees to amounts paid by radio and satellite radio providers. Apart from fighting against this bill, the industry has also pledged its support for another bill which would boost the fees paid by radio and satellite companies. The artists believe that their revenue would be cut by as much as 85 percent if the bill backed by Pandora passes.
"This issue is critical to the tens-of-thousands of recording artists we represent -- all of whom rely on this digital performance revenue stream to make a living," SoundExchange President Michael Huppe said in a statement. "It is important that we protect artists and the long-term value of their music, which is, after all, the foundation of Internet radio."
U.S. representatives Jason Chaffetz and Jared Polis along with Sen. Ron Wyden are sponsors of the Internet Radio Fairness Act.