WATCH: Gene Simmons of KISS tells U.S. senators that music artists must be paid

Legendary KISS founder and bass player Gene Simmons appeared at a Senate hearing this week to talk about the American Music Fairness Act. What is it and why does it matter? Simmons joins Tim Constantine of The Washington Times to explain.

[CONSTANTINE] When you sit down with the United States Congress, you have some very special ears listening there. What’s the message? Let’s talk about the American Music Fairness Act, what it is and why it’s so important.

[SIMMONS] My new best friend is George Strait, country superstar, who was also likewise honored at the Kennedy Center Honors. We were kibitzing back and forth, making jokes, and I happen to mention to George, you know, I’ll be speaking in front of a bipartisan committee of senators and raising the issue, the injustice, that actually we’re second-rate compared to Russia. Russia actually pays Elvis Presley’s estate when his music is heard on Russian radio. The Elvis Presley estate gets a performance royalty from Russian radio. And in America, Elvis Presley gets zero and never has made any money as a performing artist. 

Radio, meantime, and they’re not the bad guys. We need each other, performers, recording artists and radio. We’re good for each other. Radio last year made almost $14 billion. How much did Bing Crosby, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston make? Every time you heard their songs, zero. So that’s got to be justified, and that’s what I’m going to be pointing out to the senators. 

And by the way, the public of these United States of America own the airwaves. The senators that are duly elected by the people of these United States are there to do the people’s business. And one recent poll quickly and clearly spelled out that 73%, vast majority of Americans, want this problem solved once and for all. So that not just yesterday’s superstars, but tomorrow your children may be the next superstars of tomorrow, why should the radio stations get paid, the billboard companies that show the stuff? Everybody gets paid except the reason why we tuned into the radio stations in the first place. 

Watch the video to see the full conversation.

Read more: Gene Simmons of KISS urges Congress to pass a bill to make radio stations pay royalties to artists

See more from Tim Constantine.