This summer, as communities across America celebrate 250 years of our nation's history, a familiar sound will fill the air. Bands will strike up "God Bless the U.S.A." and crowds will rise to their feet, marking the iconic song's enduring popularity.
But what many people don't know is that every time an AM/FM radio station plays this recording, the station makes money, but the artists and musicians who recorded it make nothing. This is due to a loophole in the law that Congress has left open for nearly a century.
The artist who wrote "God Bless the U.S.A." has performed it in every state of the union and across the globe, but has never received fair compensation for its use on radio. This is not about punishing local stations, but about asking the biggest broadcast companies to follow the same principle as every other platform: when you use music to make money, the people who made that music deserve to share in it.
This is a basic American idea: when someone's work creates value, they should be paid fairly for it. When a farmer grows a crop, it's his to sell. When a factory turns out a product, the people who built it get paid. A recording should be no different.
The men and women who make a recording create real value in that recording, but AM/FM radio has had a free pass since the early days of broadcasting. The biggest broadcasting corporations in the country still lean on this loophole, drawing huge audiences off other people's work and leaving performers high and dry.
This is not just about the artist who wrote "God Bless the U.S.A.," but about session players, studio musicians, and backup singers who come in, do beautiful work, and go home to their families without seeing a dime from AM/FM radio. They're working people, and they ought to be paid for the work they do.
A bill in Congress, the American Music Fairness Act, aims to fix this loophole. The bill would require big radio corporations to finally play by the rules, while allowing independent, local broadcasters to play unlimited music for a few dollars each day.
This is not a new fight. For decades, artists have been asking Congress to close the radio loophole, but so far, no bill has passed. The artist who wrote "God Bless the U.S.A." is intent on finishing the work started by legendary musician Frank Sinatra. And with a President who has already shown a commitment to fair compensation for artists, there is hope that this bill will finally become law.
Closing a hundred-year-old loophole that's left artists unpaid would be a fitting way to honor America's promise that hard work deserves to be rewarded. It's time for Congress to pass the American Music Fairness Act and let the people who recorded America's soundtrack share in what their work is worth.
