Texas Congressman Supports Higher Music Royalties for Local Radio

- Measure Further Hikes One of Stations' Highest Costs

DFW area Congressman Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, has signed on to a measure that would force local Radio stations to pay a new performance royalty in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars that U.S. stations already pay to artists, songwriters, musicians and composers through groups like ASCAP, BMI, GMR, SESAC and SoundExchange.

Gooden joins far-left Democrat Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and some of the other most liberal members of Congress as a co-sponsor of HR 861, the misleadingly named American Music Fairness Act which was authored by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY.

Nadler and Doggett are retiring from Congress this year, while Gooden is running for re-election and is unopposed in the March 3 Republican primary for Texas Congressional District 5.

The move by Gooden runs counter to his past support for the Local Radio Freedom Act which opposes forcing a new music royalty on local Radio broadcasters.

Gooden and Doggett are swimming against the tide of their fellow Texans and a majority of the House who are on recording opposing the new music royalty as co-sponsors of HConRes 12, the Local Radio Freedom Act currently before Congress.

Two dozen Texas members of the U.S. House and 222 members of the entire chamber are co-sponsoring HConRes 12, and Texas leads the country in the number of co-sponsors for the measure.

Music licensing is one of local Radio stations' highest costs which continue to skyrocket with the addition of new performance rights organizations amid Congress' failure to hold Big Tech accountable for their anti-competitive practices that have up-ended the local advertising market that local Radio broadcasters depend upon.

Questions? Contact Oscar Rodriguez or call (512) 322-9944.