WASHINGTON, September 8, 2009 - The Federal Communications Commission today receives comments on a petition filed by the musicFIRST Coalition.

The petition details how radio stations across the country refuse to air musicFIRST ads, threaten artists who support the effort to create a fair performance right on radio and continue to run misleading ads produced by the National Association of Broadcasters - all in an effort to further their own private commercial interests at the expense of their public interest obligations.

Comments to be filed by the Music Managers Forum, a member of musicFIRST, include an e-mail sent by college radio station to WICB in Ithaca, New York, to Aimee Mann's online message board. The e-mail reads in part:

"Since you support MusicFirst, WICB hereby drops Aimee Mann and Til Tuesday from our playlist like a bad habit."

"The e-mail is clear," said Jennifer Bendall, executive director of the musicFIRST Coalition. "WICB dropped Aimee Mann because she supports the effort to create a fair performance right on radio."

The e-mail goes on to say, "I will encourage the college broadcasters to follow our lead, and the few commercial stations that play your music will be happy to join our cause."

"They did not stop there," Bendall said. "Like other radio stations, WICB dropped Aimee Mann and ‘any other musicFIRST supporters.' It is a sad day when a licensed radio station affiliated with a major college punishes artists for exercising their First Amendment Rights."

Under the provisions of the Performance Rights Act, college and other non-commercial radio stations will pay just $500 or $1,000 a year to clear the performance rights for all the music they use.

"Broadcasters enjoy broad First Amendment rights," Bendall said, "but they can't punish artists for exercising their First Amendment rights, too. This is not about legitimate programming choices; it's not about what a radio station's listeners want to hear. It's about radio's bottom line."

Radio stations must ensure that their private interests, including their private financial interests, do not interfere with their obligation to serve the public. The musicFIRST filing notes that the use of a broadcast license to further a licensee's personal economic interest is particularly egregious where it results in the skewing and distorting of a public debate.

According to the musicFIRST filing, one major radio group dropped a top selling artist's record after he spoke in support of performance rights legislation. The program director of a Florida radio station declined to add an artist's recordings to his station's playlist because the artist is listed as a member of the musicFIRST Coalition. Another director of programming told a representative of two prominent artists that the artists' support for the Performance Rights Act would have a "chilling effect" on their relationship. And a Delaware radio station boycotted all artists affiliated with musicFIRST for an entire month.

"These are the cases we know about," Bendall said. "We can only imagine what may be happening under the cover of silence."

musicFIRST is asking the FCC find that the stations have violated their public interest obligations and consider the broadcasters' malfeasance in connection with their license renewal. musicFIRST is also asking the FCC to consider this conduct as part of its overall review of the length of radio stations licenses, currently seven years, and shorten the license period.

"Our message to the FCC is clear," Bendall said. "We respect a broadcaster's right to oppose the Performance Rights Act. But we cannot tolerate broadcasters' use of the public airwaves to stifle debate, threaten artists and musicians and undermine the public interest in pursuit of their narrow, private business interests."

AM and FM music radio stations earn billions in advertising revenue every year without compensating the artists and musicians who bring music to life and listeners ears to the radio dial. Every other radio platform - internet radio, satellite radio and cable TV music channels - pay a fair performance royalty. And AM and FM music radio stations that stream their over-the-air signal online pay a fair performance royalty for the online program.

Artists and musicians also enjoy a radio performance right in almost every other country in the world. Countries without a radio performance right include China, Iran, North Korea, Rwanda and the U.S.

When the Performance Rights Act is passed, 75% of radio stations in the U.S. will pay $5,000 a year or less to clear the performance rights for all the music they use. Some will pay as little as $500. The royalty rate paid by other stations would be set through negotiations or by the Copyright Royalty Board, if the negotiations to not result in an agreement.