By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln has taken a side in the debate over whether radio stations should pay royalties to the artists whose music they play.

Lincoln, D-Ark., said Wednesday she has called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D. Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to oppose a Senate bill that would require radio stations to pay performance fees for music they can now play for free.

Senate Bill 379, known as the Performance Rights Act, received the endorsement of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Supporters say nearly every country in the world requires radio stations to pay for the music they play, but artists are unfairly denied compensation in the U.S.

In a letter to the Senate leaders, Lincoln and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., said, “We believe that artists and their labels are currently more than fairly compensated by local radio stations in the form of free and unparalleled promotion.”

“Free radio reaches over 235 million potential music consumers each week,” the letter said.

“These listeners hear a song on the radio and then go on to purchase CDs and music downloads, buy concert tickets and purchase other merchandise that goes directly to the artists and their labels.”

Lincoln and Barrasso argued that in the current economic climate, new fees would be devastating to radio stations. More than 265 stations have gone off the air in just over a year, and more would go out of business or switch to all-talk formats if the Performance Rights Act were to become law, they said.

“Further, should this fee be imposed on free radio, it is only a matter of time before other businesses such as restaurants, bars, taxi cabs and hotels are forced to pay for their use of music,” Lincoln and Barrasso wrote.

The two senators have sponsored a resolution opposing the Performance Rights Act. The resolution has 26 co-sponsors in the Senate, and a similar resolution in the House has 251 co-sponsors.