{"id":339911,"date":"2025-12-09T23:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/339911\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T23:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:35:12","slug":"gene-simmons-says-artists-treated-worse-than-slaves-because-radio-doesnt-pay-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/339911\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene Simmons Says Artists Treated \u2018Worse Than Slaves\u2019 Because Radio Doesn\u2019t Pay Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gene Simmons called on Congress to pass new legislation that would finally secure payments for artists<\/a> when their music is played on radio<\/a>, declaring that under the current system artists are treated \u201cworse than slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kiss bassist appeared Tuesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing on the American Music Fairness Act, a bill that, if enacted, would require radio companies to pay artists for the use of their recordings on the radio. Currently, only songwriters get royalties from radio airplay, not the artists who performed the track (whether lead performer or backing musicians).<\/p>\n

More from Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

In an impassioned, sometimes rambling speech, Simmons stressed the importance of passing this bill by noting that some of the biggest artists of all time \u2014 who often sang other peoples\u2019 work \u2014 never got paid for the copious radio airplay of their music. He mentioned Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Elvis Presley, who \u201cnever got a penny for all the millions of times\u201d his music was played on U.S. radio.<\/p>\n

Simmons said that during the recent Kennedy Center Honors<\/a>, he asked his fellow honoree, George Strait<\/a>, if he was aware that he\u2019d never been paid for all the radio plays of his hit, \u201cAmarillo by Morning.\u201d Simmons claimed Strait had no idea and had to ask his handlers if this was true.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are against this bill, you are un-American,\u201d Simmons declared. \u201cYou cannot let this injustice continue. It looks like a small issue \u2026 But our emissaries to the world are Elvis and Frank Sinatra. And when they find out we\u2019re not treating our stars right \u2014 in other words, worse than slaves; slaves get food and water. Elvis and Sinatra and Bing Crosby got nothing for their performance. You\u2019ve got to change this now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As discussed by Simmons and others at the hearing, America\u2019s current radio royalty system is a noted outlier. Many other countries \u2014 including Russia and China \u2014 pay both songwriters and performers for radio airplay, and some countries have even taken to withholding royalties from American performers because their artists aren\u2019t compensated for U.S. airplay. Other countries with a system similar to the U.S. are Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we dare come in second to Russia?\u201d Simmons exclaimed during his testimony. \u201cAn alleged country led by a despot, when they do a better job of paying our King of Rock & Roll, and we\u2019re going to stand by and not pay today\u2019s artists and future artists?\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons appeared at the subcommittee panel alongside Michael Huppe, the President and CEO of SoundExchange, the nonprofit that collects and distributes digital streaming royalties. Huppe, like Simmons, voiced support for the American Music Fairness Act. The lone dissenter on the panel was Henry Hinton, a broadcaster and owner of four radio stations in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

During his remarks, Hinton voiced concerns about the new performance royalty, calling it \u201ceconomically untenable for local radio broadcasters.\u201d He continued: \u201cWhen new fees are imposed, free local radio\u2019s only option is to cut elsewhere. Stations have to make the choice between covering local football games or paying new fees; between making their payroll, or sending more money to the recording industry \u2014 an industry currently making record profits, I might add.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons, who spoke after Hinton, rebuffed this notion. To Hinton, the rocker brusquely stated, that three of his four radio stations \u201cmay have to pay $500 when \u2014 not if \u2014 this bill is passed. What\u2019s your problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Music Fairness Act has received backing from numerous artists, who\u2019ve advocated for it in both the halls of Congress and in the press. Other advocates include David Byrne, Randy Travis, Boyz II Men, and Master P, who penned an op-ed for Rolling Stone<\/a> about the bill last year.<\/p>\n

Best of Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gene Simmons called on Congress to pass new legislation that would finally secure payments for artists when their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[170841,170842,15762,88,170843,17934,170844,16517,4874,216,170840,15394],"class_list":["post-339911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-american-music","tag-bing-crosby","tag-elvis-presley","tag-entertainment","tag-fairness-act","tag-frank-sinatra","tag-future-artists","tag-gene-simmons","tag-george-strait","tag-music","tag-radio-airplay","tag-rolling-stone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}