First of all, it’s not really about Hank…
I don’t know if he even cares…
But Representative Marsha Blackburn (R) Tennessee is crazy. Ol’ Marsha thinks that the family of Hank Williams and the rest of his genre should get some of my money because he evidently made a bad deal (now he says) when he agreed to sell his talent and songs to a record company years ago.
(actually, I’m not sure Marsha thinks this, but a lobbyist either paid her a bunch of money or has her in a headlock)
And the reason Hank should get some of my cash is because I am making a carload of money off of playing his songs on my radio station. No, no I’m not.
Radio made them famous and gave THEM the carload of money. I don’t see the radio stations of America demanding a share of the cash they made in their heyday. I don’t see the radio stations getting a cut on their album sales, their concert tickets or their overpriced concert t-shirts, which radio's on-air promotion of made possible.
The music they played was created for radio stations to play, not the other way around. And, at the time, it was the only way to the success they achieved. Still is.
And believe me, there are plenty of people who will beg us to play their music for free.
