“There will likely be another guest column from an industry body criticising Meyer’s piece within days,” we wrote in Friday’s bulletin, after SiriusXM boss Jim Meyer published an article defending his company’s lobbying against the Music Modernization Act in the US. And lo, it came to pass.
“Make no mistake, his motivations are not about public policy, they are an effort to protect his company’s sweetheart deal from decades ago which allows SiriusXM to pay artists lower rates and exempts it from paying any artist who released work before an arbitrary date,” wrote NMPA chief David Israelite in a guest column for MBW.
“Mr. Meyer says that broadcast radio should pay artists as well – and he’s correct – but to use this as an excuse for SiriusXM to not have to pay artists a fair rate is a red herring. How ironic to say it’s wrong for terrestrial radio to avoid paying artists royalties, yet because of this his company should not have to pay fair royalties either…”
“Ultimately, the fact that there are other wrongs in the industry that must still be righted is not an argument against MMA, unless your goal is to confuse and conflate two separate issues in an effort to kill the bill.”
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