More Than 80 College and High School Radio Stations From 29 States Urge U.S. Congress...

More Than 80 College and High School Radio Stations From 29 States Urge U.S.
Congress to Oppose Record-Label Supported Legislation

Co-signers cite "other serious threats" in proposed performance fee

WASHINGTON, June 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Colleges and high schools from
across the country joined together to oppose federal legislation that would
impose a fee on radio stations that play music, including on tuition- and
fee-supported, student operated, noncommercial radio. In a letter to members
of Congress delivered earlier today under the banner of the Free Radio
Alliance and the College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI), faculty, staff, and students
from more than 80 stations including Duke University, Harvard University, the
University of Wisconsin, SUNY-Brockport, Rice University, Washington State
University and Virginia Tech argued that "other serious threats" would result
from the passage of the performance fee.

The letter states, "One oft-cited straw man argument made by recording
industry lobbyists is that...educational institutions would fall within a
special accommodation. Though, in the context of record industry profits,
company executives might believe their proposal to be reasonably low, in the
real world those proposed fees represent large portions of annual budgets for
student-operated radio stations."

The letter continues, "Particularly in the present economic times as students,
their families, and educational institutions face sharply increasing fiscal
pressures, now is not the time to impose new fees on our small stations
principally to benefit foreign-owned recording labels. The record industry
executives clearly do not understand student-operated radio, which is obvious
in the proposed legislation."

College Broadcasters Inc. President Warren Kozireski says that the performance
tax legislation has hidden costs that would jeopardize many stations' ability
to continue to exist. "The record labels are completely out of touch as to how
college radio stations operate. The extensive recordkeeping requirements that
will be required by the Copyright Royalty Board alone will add hundreds, if
not thousands of dollars to the true cost of a performance fee," said
Kozireski. "As families across the country continue to struggle to find ways
to pay for school and as education budgets get tighter and tighter, the
concept of a performance fee is outrageous - all to benefit foreign-owned
record conglomerates at the expense of our students."

A complete copy of the letter is available at http://www.askcbi.org or at
http://www.freeradioalliance.org/collegeradiopertax_060109.pdf.

SOURCE Free Radio Alliance

Cathy Rought, +1-202-263-9097, info@freeradioalliance.org, for Free Radio
Alliance