senatelovett

Radio royalties, The Senate & Lyle Lovett

Jocularity abounds with, from left, Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, Sen. John Cornyn, singer Lyle Lovett, Sen. Patrick Leahy and singer Alice Peacock.

Musicians who add the guitar riff or bass groove to “bring a song to life” should be paid when their work is played on the radio, four-time Grammy winner Lyle Lovett told a Senate panel on Tuesday.

Lovett, testifying the morning after a local gig, urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider legislation requiring commercial radio to pay royalties to performers when they play their songs. Songwriters already receive such payments.

“This issue is not about me. It’s about the thousands of performers across the country who work so hard to earn livings that are so modest in relation to their talent,” Lovett said.

Lovett said the musicians often are critical to the songs. “Those are people who are usually not credited as writers of a song, but are extremely influential in bringing a song to life and are very much a part of the creative process,” he said. [AP]

More @ The Washinton Post, Coolfer, and Billboard.