When you hear a song on your car radio, the boombox you’ve got in your garage or some other form of what’s known as “terrestrial radio,” you probably figure the folks who made that music are getting paid. The artists who wrote the music do receive royalties for airplay, but the men and women doing the singing and playing get squadoosh, nada, nothing. However, if that same tune is played on satellite radio, streamed on the Internet or piped in through cable TV music channels, the band gets paid. It’s time to close that loophole in copyright law, Paul Almeida, president of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE), told a House committee. continue reading