In this op-ed, members of GRAMMY U argue that American performers deserve to be compensated for radio plays.

BY GRAMMY U LEADERSHIP

If you’ve heard the term once, you’ve likely heard it a thousand times: starving artist. It’s become a common notion in our popular culture that artists must go through a prolonged — or even permanent — period of financial hardship to pursue their dreams of, in our case, making music for a living. To some, this notion of living through poverty to pursue one’s passion may even be seen as noble and necessary for making truly great art.

But it’s important that we call this idea what it is: complete and utter nonsense.

To be sure, plenty of great music has been made from a place of want and hunger, both literal and figurative. If that’s how an artist chooses to live their life and make their art, far be it from us to stand in their way. But far too many aspiring musicians, such as ourselves, never get to make that choice.

The musicians of tomorrow deserve better. We deserve better. After all, we’re no different than anybody else. We want the same things that most people do: a fulfilling job that pays enough to get ahead; the ability to provide for ourselves and our loved ones; and the opportunity to own a home and build a good life. We just want to achieve those things while making music we love.

To do that, artists and musicians like us need to be compensated fairly for the hard work that goes into our music — but unfortunately, that’s not how it is right now. Songwriters get paid for radio plays, but performers do not. For decades, big corporations that own and control thousands of radio stations in the United States have refused to pay performers when they play their music on AM/FM radio. That’s right, they take our product and use it to make billions of dollars from advertising — and then don’t give us a single cent.

The most puzzling part of this is that it’s all legal. America is the only country in the developed world that doesn’t require broadcasters to pay performers for their work. Even worse, in the too-many-to-count countries where radio does pay artists for their music, American artists still get stiffed  because our country doesn’t reciprocate. Imagine, the richest country on Earth, treating the people who make the soundtrack to our lives as if their life’s work is worthless — and allowing a bunch of obsolete laws to say that’s perfectly okay.

No wonder we’ve normalized the notion that artists must constantly make sacrifices to pursue their passion. With the status quo as broken as it is, how are young people like us supposed to make a career out of music without dooming ourselves to a lifetime of financial insecurity? Maybe a few will rise to stardom and headline arena tours, making them financially secure, but what about the rest of us? What about the everyday artists? How are we going to provide for ourselves and our families in a country that allows corporate radio to use our work without even the most basic fairness of paying us for our work?

It’s almost enough to scare you out of chasing your dreams. We probably won’t be able to fix everything overnight, but there is one big thing we can do immediately to start making this right: Pass the American Music Fairness Act.

This bipartisan bill was introduced in the House this summer. It would change the law so radio stations are required to pay artists when they play their songs. The legislation exempts small and non commercial broadcasters, such as college radio stations, but it would finally force radio corporations that can afford to pay to stop exploiting artists.

Changing the law would change the game. That’s why we need to make sure Washington hears our voices, loud and clear. 

If you’re a young person who’s working to build a career making music, or just a fan who wants the next generation of artists to have a fair shot, join us in signing this petition to tell Congress to pass the American Music Fairness Act right now. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a better tomorrow for the next generation of music makers: to ensure that our work is valued, that our future is secure, and that our dreams are possible.We may be hungry to achieve our goals, but that doesn’t mean we should have to starve to do it.

The 14 coauthors are regional chapter representatives of GRAMMY U, a program of the Recording Academy that connects college students with the music industry’s brightest and most talented minds. Each serves as the voice of the GRAMMY U members in their area, including:

Kalee Kitchens (Atlanta); Kirsten Calabrese (Chicago); Carlie Anderson (Florida); Alondra Lopez (Los Angeles); Emma Hampton (Memphis); Nicole Lewis (Nashville); Sam Merkin (National); Cyrus Burns (New Orleans); Dani Friedman (New York); Cameron Mangione (Pacific Northwest); Breana Phelps (Philadelphia); Cathryn Flores (San Francisco); Alany Rodriguez (Texas); Nia Burnley (Washington, DC)

 Currently the traditional fm stations in US do not pay artists for the music they play on radio but rather pay  songwriters based on the current copyright law. Neither the artist nor the studio professional behind the song get paid.

The Music Fairness Act is a good initiative because, artists, producers, performers and creators would get paid for radio plays and also there would be equality in the copyright law.