Gene Simmons Presses Senate to Enact Radio Royalties Under American Music Fairness Act

At a Dec. 9 Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing, Gene Simmons and SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe urged passage of S.326 to require AM/FM radio to pay recording artists. The American Music Fairness Act would establish a federal performance right for over-the-air broadcasts, with the legislation still awaiting committee and full-chamber votes. Huppe told senators that Congress has modernized payments for digital and satellite uses but not FM radio, calling the gap a “glaring loophole.” He argued the U.S. is an outlier because many countries, including Russia and China, pay performers, and he said Americans lose foreign royalties when other nations cite U.S. nonpayment. Broadcaster Henry Hinton opposed the bill as economically untenable for local radio, warning new fees would force cuts to programming and staffing, while Simmons labeled opposition “un-American” and compared artists’ treatment to being “worse than slaves.”