FCC Seeks Comments on musicFIRST Petition

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comments on the petition filed by the musicFIRST Coalition. The petition details how radio stations across the country refuse to air musicFIRST ads, threaten artists who support the effort to create a fair performance right on radio and continue to run misleading ads produced by the National Association of Broadcasters – all in an effort to further their own private commercial interests at the expense of their public interest obligations.

“We are pleased that the FCC has taken the first step in response to the musicFIRST petition,” said Jennifer Bendall, executive director of the musicFIRST Coalition. “Since we filed the petition in June, corporate radio’s spokespersons have not only confirmed the charges made in the petition, but boasted that they will continue to use the public airwaves to misinform policy makers and the public and punish artists and musicians for speaking out in support of a fair performance right on radio while refusing to run musicFIRST’s ads.”

The FCC is seeking comment on these actions and, according to the FCC notice, “whether and to what extent broadcasters are engaging in a media campaign, coordinated by NAB [National Association of Broadcasters], which disseminates falsities about the PRA [Performance Rights Act].”