Peter Frampton paid a visit to Capitol Hill today (Wednesday) where he lobbied members of Congress on behalf of performance rights organization ASCAP as part of its Stand With Songwriters Advocacy Day.
Addressing what many songwriters see as an inequitable and unjust royalty system, Frampton says, "For all the streaming companies that played 'Baby I Love Your Way' -- some 56 million times -- I got $3,000. That's not going to even cover the mortgage payment... well maybe one mortgage payment.
"The market place has changed rapidly and the work of all American songwriters is completely undervalued. We're the most regulated small business there is. 70 percent of what we earn as songwriters is regulated by the Federal Government. There isn't any other artistic industry that's regulated like that. The consent decrees are outdated, they began in 1941 and the last update was in 2001. These are the things we need changed and updated. It's not so much for me anymore. It's for new songwriters who are coming along -- otherwise who wants to be a songwriter?"
Joining Frampton were fellow songwriters Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman of The Hooters, the production and songwriting team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Paul Williams, who is also ASCAP's chairman and president.