The parade of Chicago music industry heavy-hitters on Captiol Hill will continue tomorrow when Smashing Pumpkins bandleader Billy Corgan testifies at a hearing on the Performance Rights Act before the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Pushed by what's left of the major-label lobbying group, the Recording Industry Association of America, bills recently were introduced to both houses of Congress to require conventional or "terrestrial" radio to pay performance rights to musicians for recordings that are played on the airwaves. The radio industry has long paid copyright royalties to the songwriters (collected by the organizations ASCAP, BMI and SESAC), but it has not paid separate performance royalties, while Internet Webcasters, television broadcasters and satellite radio all have been required to.
Traditional radio was for years allowed to coast along without paying performance royalties under the labels' reasoning that playing a song on the radio was, in effect, a paid commercial for the song and the artist. But times have changed, conventional radio no longer has the juice it once had and many performers and labels are now hungering for that extra piece of the pie.
Also slated to testify at Tuesday's hearing are RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol and Steve Newberry, chairman of the NAB Radio Board. At the moment, Corgan is the only artist on the witness list -- which is ironic, given that only a few days ago, he told the Sun-Times:
"I am loathe from here and ever on to talk about the music business. So
honestly I'd rather not comment."
That was in response to the fact that Corgan joined Seal, Shakira, Journey and Van Halen on the short list of artists who wrote to Congress in support of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger. Corgan's letter has not yet been published as part of the Congressional record of the subcommittee hearings, and he declined to share it with the Sun-Times.
Jim, to quote the girl freaking out on acid from the fabled Ken Kesey tapes, "Who cares?!? I don't care!! It's too -- too perfect!!!"
Seriously, this is exactly what I've been waiting to see to prove to me once and for all that Billy has joined the ranks of Don Henley and the afore-mentioned Eddie Van Halen. Or maybe that's what he always was.
The difference is, though, that none of these artists -- including, by the way, the Gourded One Himself -- has any commercial viability aside from an already established base. Van Halen will bring in money, but it's a nostalgia act now; same goes for Journey and the Pumpkins. Seal... I mean, before his songs were getting covered by Alanis Morrisette, his last hit was, what, fifteen years ago? And Shakira had some hits on the southern side of the border, but her major breakthrough fell apart pretty quickly, didn't it?
I find it laughable that the guy who almost let his band fall apart for the worst album in its discography because he was so obsessed with the artistry on it is now going to stand up for this farce of a merger.
And if anybody really wants to back the Great Pumpkin on this, go right ahead; but frankly, I'd only be mildly annoyed if the Smashing Pumpkins "comeback" had amounted to something more substantial than a stadium rock take on Tattoo You.
Not sure what's worse...the huge picture of an ugly, bald Billy Corgan or the smaller picture on the upper right corner of Jim DeRogatis.
Billy ends the band "Smashing Pumpkins" then after going solo does a profesonal face plant to his current career, "reunites" Smashing Pumpkins but it's an all new band so it's not really the origonal band then is it????? new base player in Van Halen I can work with but all new line up.........not same band!!!!! might as well call his new band Lynard Skynard.
But what will poor Billy do when he once again feels the need to immerse himself in the common folk and revel in his lingering fame by pretending to be recognizable even when in disguise (*cough* baseball cap *cough*)... and finds out the Hideout has been taken over by LiveNation?