BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
The National Association of Broadcasters is keeping a keen eye on royalty issues across broadcast media, putting pressure on SoundExchange as well as Congress with two new campaigns.

Last week, the NAB placed a graphic tally (seen below) of the days elapsed without a response from SoundExchange to the group's "good-faith" offer regarding webcast royalty rates. The NAB's offer was made June 6 in a meeting between executives from both groups.

In a press release last week, NAB Executive VP Dennis Wharton said, "The sounds of silence from SoundExchange are deafening," adding that "SoundExchange's callous refusal to respond to our reasonable offer threatens not only the recording artists they purport to represent, but also a fledgling technology that benefits listeners."

The NAB is also continuing to put pressure on Congress to act against the imposition of a proposed performance royalty for broadcast radio. The group has created a "mock invoice," estimating that such a royalty would cost stations between 10-35 % of gross revenue, paid to the labels for "the privelege of promoting the record labels' music free of charge, and lining recording industry executives' pockets with music and concert sales."

A copy of that "mock invoice" is available here (.pdf).

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Read the entire article at DigitalMediaWire.com.

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