Hailing it as "a matter of fundamental fairness to performers," the Obama administration strongly endorsed passage of the Performance Rights Act (S. 379/H.R. 848), which will end the big corporate radio loophole that denies musicians fair compensation when their songs are played over AM/FM radio.

In a letter to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Obama Commerce Department stated that, "...establishing a public performance right in sound recording and eliminating the exemption for terrestrial broadcasters follows principles of U.S. copyright law."

The Department also noted that the lack of a U.S. performance right hurts musicians when their music is used overseas.

"Today, the United States stands alone among industrial nations in not recognizing a public performance right in sound recordings," the letter noted, "A a result, substantial royalities for the public performance of U.S. sound recordings abroad are either not collected at all or not distributed to American performers..."

The administration's support for the Performance Rights Act is yet another sign that the United States is moving closer to ensuring fair pay for airplay. This is a big momentum builder for the legislation which already has bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate. The Bush administration had also endorsed a performance right for radio airplay as have groups from Left to Right on the political spectrum.

Download the letter here.