Radio Performance Act Tax - WTF?!?!?!

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   Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years ago

   Okay, I was just listening to the radio like always when I hear an announcement. Congress is trying to tax us for every song they play on the radio. The worst part is that the tax money will be going to record companies and will not be benefiting the U.S. at all!
   
   Is this just in Iowa or is it going on all over? I thought we declared our independence from Britain to escape stupid taxes like this. Are we going to have to declare our independence from Obama now too?

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      K Partinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanan … tory7.html

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         Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         So does that mean the radio stations are paying the taxes? Or does that mean WE are paying the taxes? Ugh, so confusing...

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      Hokeyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Its federal.

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      Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      read K.'s link this government is seriously out of hand. I am just wondering who is gonna start shooting?

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         Chaotic Chicaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I qualify sharpshooter!  It's not marksman but it's not bad either!

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         Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Might gonna be me if I have to start paying taxes for listening to the radio

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            Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            git yer gun ma! I'll buy the bullets.

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               Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               

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                  Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Iffin we git done with them revenuers by supper I'll make a pie.

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                     Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     Mm I love meh some pie. Let's git r done then!

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                        Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                        Jist you a member no shootin til you see the white of their eyes.

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                           Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                           Yes'm!

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      tony0724posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Don't say us crazy conservatives did not try to warn you ! Ya gotta wake up !

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      Michael Willisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I remember first hearing about this over a year, maybe year and a half ago. The recording artists are wanting a cut in the revenue radio stations make from advertisements using royalties as a way to get this.
      
      Easy resolution...
      Radio DJ's only play song by artists that waive the royalty fee.
      Without any airplay or TV promotion...the song is not heard and the recording artists loses a huge market to earn revenue from by the "free promotion."
      Charge the recording artist a "fee" to play their songs.
      Lastly...refuse to play their songs. There will be those who will take the free airplay.

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      politicsdayleeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      great we musicians get screwed again!

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      thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      This is just another attempt at record companies trying to earn back some money after huge falls in profits, without realizing that maybe the time has come to adapt to the Internet world, rather than bitch and whine about it before making a thousand frivolous lawsuits.
      
      (The British music association was sued a few years back for invading privacy after they monitored a home computer downloading an mp3 file over a peer to peer network.  The song turned out to be Mary had a Little Lamb, and the record company were deemed to have used illegal snooping methods. The fine for this was more than 10 times what they had gained through lawsuits.)

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   Chaotic Chicaposted 14 years ago

   I heard about this, too! I don't know how they can justify this!!  It's absurd!

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      K Partinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      crazy crazy!!

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   SwampDonkeyposted 14 years ago

   Jump on my back! I will take you! Down with the revenuers!

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      Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Swampdonkey your back looks a little sticky!

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         Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         That's what saddles are for. Let's take him up on it, we need transportation. Mah pickemup truck aint gurna get us all the way to wurshington

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            Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            well the we will hafta stop and git another gun!

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               Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Can donkeys shoot though? I thought they had hooves, not fingers?

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                  Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  well maybe we will just buy im some beans then and mayhap we wont be needin the firearms!

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                     Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     ROFLMAO!

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                        Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                        Thankya Thankya I'll be here all week.

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   ralwusposted 14 years ago

   tax on soda pop next and sex tax will be on down the line with candy and doughnuts and more on cosmetics too. Last will be an air tax.

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      Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      My water company already charges me a gravity fee.

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      Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Good thing I don't have sex, eat doughnuts, or use cosmetics from the store
      
      Well... maybe not a good thing I don't have sex

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      Arthur Fontesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That is what cap and trade is for.

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   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   And people think it's supposedly getting better?
   
   What is actually improving in America?

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      Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Nothing seems to be getting any better

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      Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      The fact that You, me and Panni live here! oh yea Rawlus and Swamppy and on and on and on...............

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         Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Almost enough for us to take over Congress altogether, huh?

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            Cagsilposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Even if joking.....talking about a takeover of Congress is in and of itself a violation of Federal Law and could be construed or looked upon as treason.
            
            Be careful.

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               Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               I am sure anyone with half a brain can tell I'm kidding... oh crap, Congress doesn't have half a brain even when they combine it all together!
               
               Umm...
               
               Oh, I'm proud to be an American
               Where at least I know I'm free
               
               
               La la la, okay, hopefully Congress forgives me now and I don't get taken to federal prison for making a silly joke that wasn't even funny.

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   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   I was only stating how it could be construed. I know it was a joke, but someone else might not. That's all.

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      Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I know, just watching my back

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   Ohmaposted 14 years ago

   Okay I guess I should say too that I am a proud American and would never ever ever think about shootin them revenuers.

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   IzzyMposted 14 years ago

   Why are you surpised - all of you?
   The rest of the world has been paying a fortune to the Performing Rights Society for years.
   Every radio station in Europe has to pay them a set fee in order to broadcast music, any music.
   Every town here in Spain has an office of the Performing Rights Society, with at least 3 staff members, all of whom no doubt get paid a small fortune.
   But it's not just every radio station, or TV station, its every bar that plays background music or has a television, or puts on karaoke.
   I had a bar that played background music,  had a TV that wasn't conncted to the outside world in any way - it couldn't even play local Spanish channels because it wasn't connected to an antenna. It was only there for karaoke. But the PRS made me pay them €140 per month which doesn't sound a lot but is when you are struggling.
   Eventually I dumped the karaoke as that accounted for the bulk of the fees I paid them, but six months later they took me to court because basically once you start paying for this option, the option is not there to opt out, even though I did.
   I still lost my case and had to pay them back money.
   I've always wanted to know much of this money the actual performer sees. To me, various governments have just used this as another tax to keep us all down.
   Next door to me was a bar that couldn't get a music licence because they didn't have double doors, nor double glazing nor sound-proofing and their total area was far too small to be a music bar, but they regularly put on music nights, played karaoke, disturbed the neighbours and the resulting noise complaints got directed at me because everyone knew I had a music licence, but by this time I had stopped playing music.
   Thank God I am out of all of that now. Bloody nightmare. Doesn't pay to try to stay within the law. And the Performing Rights Society is a joke. They only ever went after licensed premises like mine - not next doors - they got away with paying nothing.

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   Ohmaposted 14 years ago

   WOW Izzy that is truly a nasty piece of work.

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    IzzyMposted 14 years ago

    What? What I wrote?

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       Ohmaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       No the fact that it happens.

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    TheGlassSpiderposted 14 years ago

    I've been reading my dystopian novels again...they just seem so relevant right now. Things like Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale, 1984...just getting thoughtful. Being shocked all over again how much like real life fiction has become.
    
    Start a war to keep production high, but without improving standards of living...create misdirection, misinformation everywhere...allow (even encourage) the degradation of language and education so people's very thought processes are limited. Make sure everyone is simultaneously afraid of and dependent upon Big Br...I mean, the government....Orwell's starting to read like a checklist...or is just me?
    
    (kinda wishing someone will tell me it's just me, and make me believe it. )

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       IzzyMposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Google 'bilderbergers'.

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          TheGlassSpiderposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Well, that's one hell of a "social club," isn't it? Hmmm. This doesn't do anything to assuage my dystopian paranoia. LOL

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       sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Surprise, its all true. not sure fiction was ever an appropriate word..

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    IzzyMposted 14 years ago

    Oh..Ok...it happens and it is now apparently happening in the US. Didn't the Performing Rights Society start in the US? How come Europe were paying for it before the US? That is really what I should have been asking.
    The idea behind it is good. All these guys that work hard to produce the music we listen to every day on the radio should be paid for their efforts, even if we don't buy the record.
    But now it just seems to be a scam. Who gets this money?

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    Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years ago

    It's like we're going back in time. Instead of going forward, we're re-living all of America's past mistakes.

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       tony0724posted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Hope and change at work !

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    Padrinoposted 14 years ago

    There is legislation being introduced by the Democrats that will require all restaurants to tell you how many calories are in each individual item on the menu.
    
    This is why conservatives and libertarians hate government, we are no longer a free people in this Country, little by little big brother is taking control.
    
    It all starts with controlling a nations health system, its history, wake up.

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    Doug Hughesposted 14 years ago

    If you bother to read the act, it provides for entertainers to get paid royalties when some one uses their work publicly to make money. So if you record a song and the radio plays it to sell advetising and make piles of the stuff, they have to pay you.
    
    It's not a 'tax' for the government or an infringement of anyones rights. If I was a radio station owner, I'd be against. If I was a creative person, I'd be for. But don't spin it as a tax.
    
    More deceptive spin. What else is new.

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       Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Then have the radio stations pay the taxes! I would rather just go buy a CD or borrow one from a friend than pay a tax for listening to a radio station.

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          PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          The radio stations pay the fee, not you.  This article explains it pretty well.
          
          http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/03 … -ct-radio3

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             Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             That's the answer I was looking for. Thank you! Everyone has made it seem like citizens had to pay the taxes.

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                PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                Yes, fear tactics based on lies are started by the monied interests, and some people (who often call themselves "free thinkers") swallow the lies and spread them around.
                
                A very destructive pattern.

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                   Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                   Well, thank you for clearing it up. Every website I went to seemed to say that citizens had to pay the taxes. Everyone I asked said the same thing. That is such a relief, thank you so much!

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                      PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                      You're welcome. 

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    Will Apseposted 14 years ago

    Its amazing how easy it is to panic a flock of sheep. Especially when the sheep get their news from second rate radio stations that just love sheep stirring.

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    MikeNVposted 14 years ago

    Is that bad?  I thought that is what Americans wanted more taxes and more Government?
    
    People keep electing Politicians to dream up these new taxes... so it must be what Americans want?

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