Gene Simmons, co-founder and bass player of the band KISS, told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday (Dec. 9) that paying recording artists for broadcast radio performances isn’t just a matter of fairness; it’s a matter of patriotism. “If you are against this bill, you are un-American,” said Simmons, who veered from typical Congressional hearing practice by making his introductory remarks without notes.
Simmons appeared at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property titled Balancing the Interests of Local Radio, Songwriters, and Performers in the Digital Age, which hosted various industry professionals’ viewpoints on the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA), a bill that would require broadcast radio companies to pay for the performance of sound recordings. Radio stations pay for the performance of musical works through licenses with performance rights organizations such as ASCAP and BMI, as well as for any performances of sound recordings on the internet. But they do not pay record labels or performing artists when they play music over the air — something the music industry has fruitlessly combated for years.
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“I’m here to kindly ask all of you, both Republicans and Democrats, to help us remedy a situation, an injustice,” Simmons said with his wife, Shannon Tweed, son Nick and daughter Sophie seated in the gallery behind him. “Let’s call it for what it is, an injustice that’s been ongoing for many, many decades.” The 76-year-old rocker conceded that he doesn’t need radio royalties — “I’ve done well thanks to the American dream,” he said — but underscored the importance of supporting young artists during their financially precarious early years. “This is for our children and for our children’s children,” he said. “We can’t just let them out in the cold and not have a way to get paid for their hard work.”
Elsewhere at the hearing, Henry Hinton, president and CEO of Inner Banks Media, a small broadcast radio company that serves Eastern North Carolina, took the opposing view. “Radio is free to our listeners, but it is not free to those of us who provide it,” he said. “Radio stations pay countless fees, including annual FCC regulatory fees, copyright royalties to performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI, CSAC, GMR and streaming collectives like SoundExchange. Local broadcasters today compete against tech giants and global streaming services, some of whom ironically are now trying to emulate the essence of radio on their platforms. Streaming services are able to recoup costs through subscriptions and fees that they charge to their users. We cannot.”
Simmons seemed to relish playing a good-natured foil to Hinton’s business case against the AMFA. “I’m not here to demonize Mr. Hinton or the radio stations,” he said. “We need each other. Performers need radio; radio needs performers. But for God’s sake, equitable doesn’t mean you get zero and radio makes $14 billion just this last year. That’s not equitable — I know it’s a big word, like gymnasium, but come on, Hinton, let’s get with it. Let’s become American.”
The pros and cons voiced during Tuesday’s AMFA hearing echoed those from one held about the bill in 2024 before a House Judiciary subcommittee. During that earlier hearing, chairman Darrell Issa (R-OH) suggested that lawmakers had grown impatient and warned broadcasters that Congressional intervention would be more painful than a rate they negotiated with record labels. “And if you don’t take that, [then] quite frankly you have to live with the consequences,” Issa told Curtis LeGeyt, president/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, at the time.
On Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) often took a combative stance toward Hinton, telling him that his station is “causing harm” to musicians by not paying a performance royalty. “You’ve got an oldies station,” Blackburn told Hinton. “You’ve never paid Sam Moore’s estate a dime for ‘Soul Man.’” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who painted himself as a frequent radio listener, was more conciliatory toward radio stations’ financial state. “I just want to let you know I acknowledge all the concerns that you’ve raised,” Schiff said to Hinton.” I think we’ve tried to strike a fair balance in this, but I am mindful of the financial pressure you describe, and I don’t want to act as if we’re not aware of that.”
Michael Huppe, president and CEO of SoundExchange, urged the senators not to pay heed to broadcasters’ talking points that have sunk previous efforts to create a performance right. A performance right is not a tax, he said, because the bill would simply require businesses to pay for content just as they pay for other services. Radio broadcasters have long argued that compensation for performances isn’t merited because radio promotes artists’ work, but Huppe contested that claim. “I doubt broadcasters even believe it — 72% of the music they play on the radio is not current and therefore not promoting new music at all,” he said.
