Tired of Big Radio’s static? Tune into the truth…

And if you buy this, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you… Mary Beth Garber, President of the Southern California Broadcasters Association, recently made this interesting pitch: “Our revenue comes from developing our radio stations into intellectual properties – brands – just as the performers do. We pay dearly to create and maintain those brands. We pay on air talent (more intellectual property)…. [Stations] don’t charge artists for access to their brand. They trade intellectual property access for intellectual property access. And the artists get the better end of that deal (they don’t have to pay Ryan Seacrest’s salary).”

THE FACTS: Funny you should mention Ryan Seacrest, Ms. Garber. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “Mr. Seacrest recently called in to a rival show to complain that Clear Channel Communications Inc., his show's owner, told him he could sustain higher ratings if ‘you actually play some more music.’… [The rival show hosts] commiserated, telling him their own bosses said, ‘Maybe you guys should shut up and play more Red Hot Chili Peppers.’”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125314774171818133.html?mg=com-wsj

Setting aside her complete misunderstanding of “intellectual property,” it’s clear that even Ms. Garber’s Big Radio brethren recognize the true attraction for listeners and the resulting advertising revenue: MUSIC. (And by the way, if you’re suggesting that artists pay Mr. Seacrest’s salary, will stations start paying the considerable amount it takes to create the music that Big Radio uses to generate the $14 billion in annual ad revenue?)

For more information on the musicFIRST coalition and the Performance Rights Act, please visitwww.musicFIRSTcoalition.org