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Dionne Warwick Takes On Radio One’s Cathy Hughes

We won’t even try to explain the beef between some African-American members of Congress and radio station owners (namely Cathy Hughes) over the Performance Rights Act. The bill would force radio stations to pay royalties to artists for playing their music.

Dionne Warwick, who supports the bill, and Cathy Hughes, who clearly does not, are at odds. Here’s an excerpt of Dionne’s take, via HuffingtonPost.

I was surprised when Radio One’s Cathy Hughes added my name to the list of African American artists and civil rights activists she’s attacked in her vicious campaign against fairly compensating musicians for their work. Then again, since smearing African American leaders to protect her profits has become Ms. Hughes siren song, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at all.

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.

In defending her refusal to fairly compensate the artists on whose back she earns her living, Ms. Hughes now claims poverty, which is pretty amazing considering Radio One owns 54 radio stations and reaped $316 million last year alone. She even paid her own son, Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins, a $10 million bonus. Far from a struggling company, Radio One sounds more like one of those Wall Street rip off firms where executives pay themselves big bonuses while they rip us off and throw their workers in the street.

And that’s just the beginning. Read the rest, and tell us what you think.

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