In a recent statement, Mitch Glazier, the President of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), explained why Sirius XM's opposition to the Music Modernization Act, or MMA, is unfair to artists, with their arguments in their defense flimsy at best.
As the Recording Academy has highlighted, Sirius XM is fighting against the pre-1972 provision of the MMA which calls for digital and satellite providers to pay market rate royalties for playing any pre-1972 recordings. This important piece of legislation would allow legacy artists (and their estates) to finally be paid fairly for use of their music. Satellite radio providers such as Sirius XM have profited of the loophole which allows them to play legacy artists' music without paying them a penny. Because of this, Sirius XM is fighting to make last minute changes to the MMA in an attempt to kill the otherwise widely-supported bill.
In an article published on Billboard's business page, Glazier outlines how Sirius XM's claims are simply unfounded. They said that they've already paid for all of the legacy (pre-1972) songs they use across their stations, when in fact they have not. After years of paying nothing to legacy artists to use their music, artists and labels sued them in state court, garnering wins in California. Sirius settled these claims and used those limited (albeit forced) payments as the argument that they are now paid up on all pre-1972 song plays, which is, of course, false.
"The real issue is that Sirius XM wants to avoid paying legacy artists any more money while it keeps its special deal that allows it to pay for post-'72 music at below-market rates," Glazier explains. "The Music Modernization Act finally corrects both these injustices and makes Sirius XM play by the same rules as every other digital service."
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