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5/22/2009
Dear Loop Listeners,
If you are here I know that you care very much about the radio station you listen to. Thank you. Here is the situation with the Performance Tax. 80 years ago the Federal Government made a deal with the business community. The government would allow businesses to use the over-the-air spectrum in return for providing quality entertainment, emergency information, national defense information, weather information, local news, community support for local charities as well as community access. All of this was to be provided free of charge to the public.
Because of this public/private partnership free over-air-radio grew to where at least 92% of the American public uses radio each week.
To pay the bills, radio sells advertising. Therefore, radio costs the public nothing and radio receives absolutely NO government subsidy.
Radio has always provided free on-air access to artists and musicians. Radio plays the music; the artist receives free radio exposure. As a result, the artist (band) gets famous and sells lots of albums, CDs and downloads. It’s a symbiotic
relationship that works.
Record companies know that it works. They employ legions of representatives to call on radio program directors to beg them to play their music. One of our program directors tells me that he spends at least 10 hours per week talking to record company representatives. When the records sell, the record companies send us gold and platinum records with thank you messages. You’ve probably seen them in radio stations you may have visited.
The record industry is in trouble. They want a bailout. So they have chosen to go after one partner who has helped them sell records for years, RADIO. They have gone to Congress and asked them to pass a new tax that would allow record companies to tax The Loop for playing the music for free.
If this tax passes, it will take money out of Chicago and send it to the mostly foreign-owned record companies headquartered in France, the UK and Japan. It’s not right and it will cost Chicago even more radio jobs and severely limit the amount of community service that radio can provide.
We encourage you to call our Senators and let them know that you want them to vote “NO” on Senate bill #379, The Performer’s Rights Act and vote “YES” on the Local Radio Freedom Act aka Senate Congressional Resolution
#14.
Our Senators are:
Senator Richard Durbin: 202-224-2152
Senator Roland Burris: 202-224-2854
Thank you so much for caring about your local radio
stations.
Sincerely,
Loop Staffers
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