Days after KISS were honored at President Trump’s revamped Kennedy Center Honors, co-founder Gene Simmons appeared before the US Senate to testify in support of the American Music Fairness Act. During his seven-minute opening statement, Simmons likened the refusal of radio stations to pay performance royalties to slavery.
While appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee on Tuesday, December 9th, Simmons made a case for the proposed legislation, which would require terrestrial radio stations to pay artists and songwriters a greater share of royalties for playing their music.
“It looks like a small issue. There are wars going on and everything, but our emissaries to the world are Elvis and Frank Sinatra,” Simmons said toward the end of his testimony (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “When they find out we’re not treating our stars right, in other words, worse than slaves. Slaves get food and water. Elvis and Bing Crosby, and Sinatra got nothing for their performance.”
Earlier in the speech, Simmons cited examples like Bing Crosby not getting paid for radio airplay of his massive holiday hit, “White Christmas.” He stated, “Every Christmas, we, and around the world, are listening to ‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas’. That’s America’s song. Everyone received money — the radio station sold advertising, the plumber who fixed the plumbing got paid, the disc jockey got paid. The only person that was never paid for the airplay was Bing Crosby, which is astonishing.”
Simmons also name-checked Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and fellow Kennedy Center Honors recipient George Strait as examples of artists who have been shortchanged by the current system.
Describing the lack of payments as “an injustice that’s been ongoing for many, many decades,” Simmons also ventured into Americentric rhetoric while making his point, claiming that Zimbabwe hasn’t given the world any music and that he couldn’t “sing you a French song.”
Beyond the controversial statements, Simmons made a strong case against the Big Four radio station owners: iHeartMedia, Cumulus Media, Hubbard Radio, and Beasley Media Group. He is also just one of more than 300 artists who signed an open letter to Congress in February, urging them to pass the bipartisan American Music Fairness Act.
Terrestrial radio remains the only major music platform that doesn’t pay artists performance royalties, with Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, YouTube, and TikTok all paying varying rates. And as Simmons pointed out, the US stands out as one of the few large countries that doesn’t require stations to give musicians royalties. “How do we dare come in second to Russia?” he declared.
With support from both parties and President Trump, the American Music Fairness Act seems to have a chance at becoming law.
