Senate Support Builds for American Music Fairness Act

December 31, 2025

IM  -  

On December 9, Senators on the Intellectual Property Subcommittee demonstrated clear support for the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA). Opponents offered no effective response to the call for fair compensation when music is played on AM/FM radio.

This hearing marks an important step toward legislative action, with the coalition now pushing for the full Senate Judiciary Committee to consider AMFA in a legislative markup.

AMFA, championed for years by the MusicFIRST Coalition, of which AFM is a member, would finally ensure that artists and creators receive compensation for the use of their songs on terrestrial radio. The current system pays songwriters and performers for music aired on satellite and streaming services, but not on AM/FM radio—a loophole critics call an injustice.

Testifying before the subcommittee, KISS co-founder and bassist Gene Simmons, member of Local 802 (New York City), highlighted the decades-long problem, stating, “People tune in to hear our songs. Advertisers pay big money … and the artists who created the music that makes it all work? They get bupkis. That’s called robbery.” He notes that radio earned $14 billion this year.

“Let’s call it for what it is—an injustice that has been going on for decades,” Simmons says, noting that performers from Bing Crosby to Elvis Presley to Frank Sinatra never were compensated when their performances were heard on radio.

Sinatra himself lobbied for a performance right back in the 1970s, and numerous iterations of the legislation have been proposed through the years. The National Association of Broadcasters has managed to sideline efforts.

Simmons and SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe, among others, spoke during the “Balancing the Interests of Local Radio, Songwriters, and Performers in the Digital Age” hearing.

Huppe urged Congress to close this “glaring loophole” in copyright law, which has been exploited by broadcasters for too long. He stressed the international implications, noting that because the US doesn’t pay, foreign radio stations also refuse to compensate American artists. Huppe claimed this failure aligns the US with countries like North Korea and Iran and costs Americans “hundreds of millions of dollars overseas every year.”

The bill would establish a music performance right, requiring stations to license their songs for airplay, finally ending the “free ride” enjoyed by terrestrial radio.

---