KISS icon Gene Simmons delivered a fiery and controversial testimony on Capitol Hill this Tuesday, arguing that the current lack of royalty payments from AM/FM radio stations amounts to treating musicians “worse than slaves.”
Appearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee, the 76-year-old bassist advocated for the American Music Fairness Act. The legislation aims to close a loophole that allows terrestrial radio stations to play music without paying the performers, a standard that differs from streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music.
During his seven-minute address, Simmons did not mince words, using extreme comparisons to highlight the financial disparity faced by legacy artists like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
“It looks like a small issue,” Simmons told the committee (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “There are wars going on and everything, but our emissaries to the world are Elvis and Frank Sinatra. And then when they find out we’re not treating our stars right, in other words, worse than slaves… Slaves get food and water. Elvis and Bing Crosby and Sinatra got nothing for their performance.”
Simmons argued that the United States is lagging behind the rest of the world—including geopolitical adversaries—when it comes to compensating artists.
“How do we dare come in second to Russia, an alleged country led by a despot when they do a better job of paying our king of rock and roll, and we’re gonna stand by and not pay today’s artists and future artists?” he asked.
To illustrate his point, Simmons used the example of Bing Crosby’s holiday classic, “White Christmas.” He noted that while radio stations sold advertising and disc jockeys collected salaries based on playing the song millions of times, the performer himself was cut out of the transaction.
“The only person that was never paid for the airplay was Bing Crosby, which is astonishing,” Simmons said.
The KISS co-founder also shared a personal anecdote involving country legend George Strait, whom he met just days prior when both were honored at the Kennedy Center. Simmons revealed that Strait was unaware he wasn’t receiving performance royalties for his radio hits.
“I told him, ‘George, do you know one of your biggest songs, ‘Amarillo [By Morning]’, which has been broadcast on AM and FM radio hundreds of thousands of times, do you know you never got a penny for any of those broadcasts?'” Simmons recounted. “He looked around, he said, ‘What do you mean?’… He turned to his handlers. ‘No, that’s true.’ How do you defend that?”
Simmons framed the issue not just as one of finance, but of patriotism. He praised President Donald Trump for signing the Music Modernization Act in 2018 and suggested that opposing this new bill was contrary to national values.
“This is the land of opportunity where greatness is possible… When you work hard and you get to the top, what do you got? Zipperoni. That’s not the American way. If you are against this bill, you are un-American. You cannot let this injustice continue.”
He concluded his testimony with a plea for the future generation of musicians.
“You’ve got to change this now for our children and our children’s children, and I know you will. The president will sign this once all you guys, respectfully, get your act together and put this across the board. Let’s do the right thing.”
Simmons testified alongside Michael Huppe, CEO of SoundExchange. The U.S. remains the only major democratic nation that does not require radio stations to pay performers for airplay.
