Gene Simmons, the bassist and vocalist of KISS, spoke to White House reporters this past Friday (5th December), ahead of his appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday (9th December) in support of the American Music Fairness Act. The AMFA’s description says that it “establishes that the copyright holder of a sound recording shall have the exclusive right to perform the sound recording through an audio transmission” (Congress.gov).
It continues: “Under the bill, a nonsubscription broadcast transmission must have a license to publicly perform such sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board must periodically determine the royalty rates for such a license.”
Gene Simmons has decided to back the bill and provide his two-cents, offering his perspective as a musician, dealing with the current “public performance right [that] only covers performances through a digital audio transmission in certain instances, which means that nonsubscription terrestrial radio stations generally do not have to get a license to publicly perform a copyright-protected sound recording,” and how that artists deserve to be paid for their work, and not profited off of without compensation.
Addressing White House reporters, Simmons said: “[On Tuesday,] I’ll be pointing my finger at both Republicans and Democrats or senators who are joining to hear me talk about the American Music Fairness Act that needs to be passed because your favorite artists… were never paid a single cent when you heard their voices on the radio. Nothing. They were never paid for their performance on the radio, even though radio yearly was making almost 14 billion dollars,” (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
He wears his sunglasses while making his statement to cameras, continuing that, “In America, if you work hard, you should get paid. But that is a fact that’s been around for forever, and sadly this injustice has been ongoing without anybody paying attention to it. It doesn’t affect us as much ’cause we make a living,” and KISS sure makes a living. The band’s net worth is valued at over $300 million, “But our kids, [my son] Nick and [my daughter] Sophie, are both successful artists, and we, as guardians of their future, are not going to allow this injustice to continue.”
Introduced into the House on the 31st of January by Republican Representative for California, Darrell Issa, it’s been nearly a year since it’s submission, and will be heard with the support of Simmons, “If there’s an artist who’s heard on radio, they should get paid, because the radio stations use our name, our likeness to promote their radio stations on billboards, everywhere else, and they charge advertisers money and they’re making 14 billion — that’s with a ‘B’ — dollars annually, multiplied by, if you have a 50-year career, that’s a lot of money. Can the artists that we all admire… have a little bit of that?”
He sums up bluntly: “So, this is a bipartisan bill that will get passed because the president is very pro artists.”
He finishes up with, “We’re letting our artists, the voices of America, American culture, get by working hard on their craft and not getting paid.”
Ahead of his testimony on Tuesday, he will be receiving a Kennedy Center Honors Award on Sunday (today, 7th October). More news to come on that.
… I appreciate the sentiment, but can we please stop allowing entertainers anywhere near Washington D.C. buildings and government positions? Because, of course, the president is ‘pro-artist.’ He is one, but not in the sense that Gene Simmons is. You can fill in the blank.
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