Bands never received revenue from radio play. Not fifty years ago, not today. Radio doesn’t pay performance royalties in the United States. Only songwriters received royalties from radio play. Remember, a song has two primary royalties, one involving the songwriter for the underlying composition, and one involving the master recording for the performer. So in the case of a popular song like “Blinded By the Light”, Bruce Springsteen (songwriter) receives a royalty from radio play while Manfred Mann (performer) gets nothing. The United States is one of four countries in the world that operate this way, the other three being North Korea, China and Iran.
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