ADVOCACY
Fighting Record Labels' Attempt to Impose a Tax on Local Radio Stations
While the big record labels continued to aggressively lobby for a performance tax on local radio stations simply for airing and promoting artists’ music, broadcasters worked with congressional leaders to grow the number of bipartisan cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act, a resolution that opposes a performance tax and recognizes the critical role local radio plays in every community. Strong congressional support for local radio was made clear in the 2018 enactment of the Music Modernization Act, a consensus legislation that benefitted all stakeholders and did not contain a performance tax. At the end of the year, 25 senators and 202 members of the House supported the resolution – dealing a major blow to the record labels' effort to tax local radio, such as the AM-FM Act recently introduced in the House and Senate.
NAB will continue to educate lawmakers on the beneficial partnership between local stations and artists that has thrived for decades.
Fighting Record Labels' Attempt to Impose a Tax on Local Radio Stations
While the big record labels continued to aggressively lobby for a performance tax on local radio stations simply for airing and promoting artists’ music, broadcasters worked with congressional leaders to grow the number of bipartisan cosponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act, a resolution that opposes a performance tax and recognizes the critical role local radio plays in every community. Strong congressional support for local radio was made clear in the 2018 enactment of the Music Modernization Act, a consensus legislation that benefitted all stakeholders and did not contain a performance tax. At the end of the year, 25 senators and 202 members of the House supported the resolution – dealing a major blow to the record labels' effort to tax local radio, such as the AM-FM Act recently introduced in the House and Senate.
NAB will continue to educate lawmakers on the beneficial partnership between local stations and artists that has thrived for decades.