Dionne Warwick Strikes Back at Performance Rights Act Criticism

Dionne Warwick took to the pages of the Huffington Post on Thursday to respond to comments made by Radio One owner Cathy Hughes. Radio One owns 52 radio stations in the U.S.

Warwick supports the Performance Rights Act, which is currently in congress, that would allow artists to collect royalties when their music is played on commercial over-the-air radio stations. Right now, only publishers and songwriters receive royalties from standard radio, where publishers, songwriters, the labels and the artists receive them for satellite and internet streaming radio.

The radio industry is, obviously, seeing a threat to their bottom line and are fighting the act tooth-and-nail but Hughes has gone further than most, calling out specific artists that support the legislation.

In her article, Warwick states

Every time we buy a CD or download a song, the artist is paid for their work. You might not know that this isn't the case when a musician's work is played on the radio. That's because corporate radio CEOs like Cathy Hughes are exploiting a legal loophole that allows them to play these artists songs without paying them for their work.

Ms. Hughes is now very angry with me, other black recording artists, and civil rights leaders because we support the Performance Rights Act, which many now call the Civil Rights for Musicians Act. This bill, which was written by the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman John Conyers, closes the legal loophole the radio corporations and CEOs are using to ensure that African American artists receive fair pay for airplay.

Warwick then goes on to challenge Hughes over crying poverty yet reaping large profits, to the point where she awarded her son, the CEO of the company, a $10 million bonus.

To read all of Warwick's article, go to the Huffington Post site.