Washington - The heads of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Wednesday introduced the Performance Rights Act, bipartisan legislation that would remove traditional radio's exemption from paying performers in addition to songwriters, which is not the case for satellite or Internet radio, or for many foreign broadcasters. "For the past 70 years Congress has ignored the constitutional mandate that we protect copyrights by completely exempting broadcasters from paying performers, while the vast majority of countries have no such exemption. Our ignorance of intellectual property rights on this issue is a worldwide embarrassment and it must end now," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a co-sponsor of the House bill.

Washington - The U.S. House Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property yesterday approved the Performance Rights Act, which would for the first time compel AM and FM radio stations to pay record labels and musicians royalties to play their songs, on top of the current payments to songwriters and music publishers. "A loophole in the law lets AM and FM music radio stations earn $16 billion a year in advertising revenue without compensation the artists and musicians who bring music to life and listeners' ears to the radio dial. It's not right, it's not fair and we are going to make sure it is changed," said Doyle Bartlett, executive director of the MusicFIRST Coalition, a record label lobbying group.