Performance Royalties: Can Artists and Radio Get Along? Is that the right debate?

Well I have to take my hat off to Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Push Coalition. The Annual Symposium in Washington, DC on November 19, 2009 was a surprising event.
Admittedly, I was skeptical about the event. I did not hear or read about the symposium until the last minute (and that's another story) while I was discussing media ownership with some students. For some reason, I was determined to make this event. Although I expected to see the usual suspects in attendance building their own brands and and supplying the masses with great rhetorical exchanges void of any tangible solution. I've come to believe like so many others that no one (the so called leaders) really care about "the people" in the way that the leaders use to do in 60's.

As I enjoyed the free breakfast at the Rainbow Push Symposium. I heard for the first time Representative John Conyers. Regardless of my position on the Performance Rights Acts, I gave my full attention to this "Warrior" of the cause for African American people. He deserves that respect and more. Representative Conyers did not go into a whole lot of this and that about the Performance Rights Act. He asked that you merely go to his website and read the information and talk to him about it later. Man I thought that is the least that I could do, no problem. He wants not to debate but find a solution.

What struck me the most about Representative Conyers was the candor in which he told the audience that they (meaning the republicans and the republican backed conservative media) are going to throw everything at President Obama in 2012. And I sat there thinking, Why in the hell are we arguing about the Performance Right Act? Whether or not the act becomes a law African Americans are losing stations and ownership at an alarming rate and there will not be a bailout. And only a few drums left in the community. TAMA Broadcasting with its 11 stations and two newspapers is now in receivership. The drum that radio once was in the African American community is slowly being silenced or bought by outside interests who can afford the price that is out of range for another African American. Who's going to lend or invest in a Black man and a media venture during this economic downturn? Newt and his gang took care of the incentive in 1995 with the repeal of the Tax Certificate policy And we are arguing about whether or not the artists should be paid for airplay on radio?

I said at the beginning of the Performance Rights debate that this is a diversion something else is happening. In my rants to people on the hill most said that another wave of consolidation is coming and lobbyists are pushing for further relaxation of the ownership rules where a corporation can own up to 12 stations in a single market. And with African American corporations losing heavily in this economic downturn, it's no wonder why lobbyists are asking for more relaxation of the ownership limits. The corporations want to gobble up the remaining African American companies that are failing. No, No, No, we gotta fight the power ! Corporations have messed up radio. Messed it up, Messed it up and Messed it up through their greed. Not just one of them, all of the radio corporations have ruined radio. They program through one silly game called "monkey see monkey do." And corporations cannot adequately supply the community with their need through this one size fits all method of programming. The corporations have robbed locals communities with their programming.

At the end of the presentations, I went to directly to Representative Conyers and said to him "I know you voted against the 1996 Telecommunications Act can this Performance Rights Act debate be spun in to a "Media Ownership" issue? Too few own Too many and they want more. I think we should put some focus on the media ownership issues. He looked at me then instructed one of his assistants to take my information. I will meet with him in the coming weeks. I am sympathetic about the PRA but media ownership in the community is something that we all need to stand up and fight for right away. Why is it that a certain group has to own everything all the time? When I think about not being able to hear the African American perspective on an African American channel or run totally by African Americans. And African American getting their news and information from sources other than themselves, I question whether that is a forward move. It looks to me like stepping backwards to a time when African Americans did not own any radio stations. Why aren't African Americans yelling about media ownership? Oh well. I guess that's my calling.

Minority Radio Ownership at a Standstill

from Richard Prince Journalism's
http://mije.org/richardprince/minority-radio-ownership-standstill

November 2, 2009

Affirmative Action Setbacks, 1996 Law Continue Toll

In the last two years, the number of commercial radio stations grew from 10,506 to 11,249.

But minority radio ownership has remained virtually flat over that time. A report released Monday found that 815 of those stations, or 7.24 percent, were minority-owned. A similar study in 2007 put the figure at 7.76 percent.

The minority population of the United States is approximately 32 percent.

The study was conducted by Catherine Sandoval, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, partnering with Allen Hammond, also of the law school, and David Honig of the Washington-based Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, which lobbies for minority broadcast ownership.

The study's was undertaken to make recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission.

It urged the FCC to take the new figures into account when it reviews ownership rules next year. It wanted the agency to recognize that most owners of color obtained their stations before the Supreme Court restricted the FCC's ability to take race into account in awarding licenses and construction permits, and before the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which abolished limits on ownership of broadcast stations, squeezing out many smaller broadcasters.

The report noted that "74.7% of all minority-owned stations broadcasting programming air minority-oriented programming. This pattern refutes Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s assertion in Metro Broadcasting v. FCC (1990 . . .) that the proposition that minority ownership contributes to diversity is based on stereotypes. The correlation between minority radio ownership and diversity in program service is robust.

"The FCC should recognize minority broadcasters’ contributions to our nation’s democratic dialogue and analyze how its media ownership rules can ensure that minority broadcasters and the communities they serve thrive in the twenty-first century," it said.

Spanish was found to be the most popular format among minority commercial radio owners, airing on 291 or 35.7 percent of the 815 minority-owned radio stations.

Urban, African American targeted formats were broadcast on 135 minority-owned commercial stations. Six broadcast an “Urban News/Talk” format, airing a News/Talk format addressing African American community concerns, the study said.

"Nine companies controlled by Native Americans and five Native American tribal governments operate commercial radio stations programmed in a 'General market' format, primarily Country," it continued, adding that "Programming in Country also makes these stations eligible for local, national, and regional buys targeted at Country audiences, a large market since it is the nation’s second most popular format and was for decades the nation’s number one radio format."

"The study found that 324 different minority owners control the 815 full-power stations, with 139 of those Hispanic and 129 African American. Sixty-one percent of those owners own a single station," RadioInk noted on Monday.

The FCC is holding three workshops this week as it begins a congressionally mandated quadrennial review of media-ownership rules. At the first session on Monday, Michael Copps was the only FCC commissioner in attendance, John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable reported.

Copps said media consolidation was likely going to continue as soon as the economy picked up, Eggerton reported.

"Copps said that there was less diversity, competition, and localism because the 'tsunami of consolidation' had eroded the underpinnings of all three, thanks in part of sloppy FCC oversight."

Despite the benefits of minority ownership cited in Sandoval's report, many critics maintain that black-owned and Spanish-owned stations can also be negative influences, citing their cutbacks of news and public affairs programming and for some, a lack of social responsibility.

“We cannot count on the owners of commercial radio, Black or White, to do the right thing by the community,” Bruce Dixon, managing editor at BlackAgendaReport.com, told the Final Call in May. “I don't see how we can stop the bleeding in Black radio, because owners don't acknowledge our people-hood. They only see us as a vessel to sell something to.”