XM Satellite radio is already pays tens of millions of dollars in royalties to artists, songwriters and record labels, more than any other company, while free FM pays nothing.

XM Satellite Radio sent out an email to subscribers tonight, and is asking for your help. Click here to locate and write to your Senators and Representative in support of satellite radio.

Here is the email that went out to XM subscribers from the CEO Of XM Radio, Hugh Panero.

Dear XM Subscriber,

I’m emailing you personally because XM Satellite Radio needs your help.

The big record companies are pressuring Congress to pass legislation that would prevent XM listeners like you from having access to more music choices and new technologies. If these powerful special interests get their way, it will be much tougher for satellite radio to keep bringing you the unique and innovative artists you find on XM.

Let me explain: With 69 commercial-free digital music channels, XM provides an outlet for recording artists of virtually every musical style and genre.

XM has been a good friend to the music industry and, more importantly, to artists and songwriters. XM helps listeners discover new artists and rediscover forgotten favorites, stimulating CD and concert ticket sales.

We make sure artists and songwriters are fairly compensated for their music: XM pays a portion of your subscription fee to them and their record labels for the music you hear. Satellite radio has already paid tens of millions of dollars in royalties — and over the coming years it could pay hundreds of millions more. By contrast, conventional AM and FM radio stations pay nothing to recording artists or their record labels.
In fact, satellite radio, including XM, is now the largest payer of digital performance royalties to artists and record labels in the country.
But the big record labels want more — a lot more — and are trying to use Congress to stand in the way of the future. They are pressuring Congress to pass legislation that would prevent XM listeners like you from being able to use our new radios. These radios allow XM subscribers to record music they hear on XM for personal use so you can listen later – in the same way TiVo allows you to record TV shows for later viewing.

This could mean fewer music choices and less new technology for you in years to come. Those who stand in the way of progress never prevail and they won’t this time, if you and the other 6.5 million members of the XM Nation act today.

I hope you will click here to contact Congress and learn more about this issue.

Thank you for being a part of the XM Nation. With your support, XM Satellite Radio will continue to bring you the highest quality music, talk, sports, news and innovation.

Best Wishes,

Hugh Panero
CEO of XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite radio and rival satellite company Sirius already pay tens of millions of dollars in royalties to to the labels, writers, and performers, while terrestrial radio(Free FM) pays nothing.

The music industry charges royalties along a continuum. The rates depend on whether the listener can possess copies of the music. Purely passive listening, or performance as it is called, as happens in free, traditional radio is at one end of the continuum. iTunes, which charges the user to download copies of the music for personal play, is at the other end.

Currently, XM and Sirius pay performance royalties, but do not pay royalties for distribution services. XM Satellite Radio currently pays more in royalties than any other single company.

Supporters of this legislation argue that satellite radio companies should pay for distribution services similar to other broadcasters. For instance, Internet radio download services pay distribution royalties for temporary downloads. On the other hand, opponents contend that the portable satellite devices are a high-tech way for consumers to record radio programming for personal use in their homes, a practice that is commonly considered a consumer fair use right.

XM representatives explain that XM subscribers have the right to record a song for themselves, from the radio for free.

“Our subscribers, just like radio listeners have done for 50 years, have the right to make a single copy of a song for themselves,� said Mr. Parsons of XM, the largest satellite radio distributor in the United States. “They don’t have the right to distribute that copy on the Internet for others.�

The Perform Act, as the bill is called for short, is sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), and majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee).

XM411 and Subscribers fight back.

XM411 urges all satellite radio subscribers to write to your congressperson, to let them know that this is a “scam”. If you want to do your part in helping, here are some websites to help you locate your congressperson in regard to THE PERFORM ACT.

http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Statement to XM Subscribers – The XM Nation

Everything we’ve done at XM since our first minute on the air is about giving you more choices. We provide more channels and music programming than any other network. We play all the music you want to hear including the artists you want to hear but can’t find on traditional FM radio. And we offer the best radios with the features you want for your cars, homes, and all places in between.

We’ve developed new radios — the Inno, Helix and NeXus — that take innovation to the next level in a totally legal way. Like TiVo, these devices give you the ability to enjoy the sports, talk and music programming whenever you want. And because they are portable, you can enjoy XM wherever you want.

The music industry wants to stop your ability to choose when and where you can listen. Their lawyers have filed a meritless lawsuit to try and stop you from enjoying these radios.

They don’t get it. These devices are clearly legal. Consumers have enjoyed the right to tape off the air for their personal use for decades, from reel-to-reel and the cassette to the VCR and TiVo.

Our new radios complement download services, they don’t replace them. If you want a copy of a song to transfer to other players or burn onto CDs, we make it easy for you to buy them through XM + Napster.

Satellite radio subscribers like you are law-abiding music consumers; a portion of your subscriber fee pays royalties directly to artists. Instead of going after pirates who don’t pay a cent, the record labels are attacking the radios used for the enjoyment of music by consumers like you. It’s misguided and wrong.

We will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win.

Thank you for your support.

It’s great to see XM Radio standing their ground and not allowing the RIAA to bully them around. Sirius should thank XM for fighting this battle for Satellite Radio.

Update: Sirius also has had their share of problems with record labels, as tussel points out.

The suit accuses XM Satellite of “massive wholesale infringement,” and seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM customers using the devices, which went on sale earlier this month. XM, with more than 6.5 million subscribers, said it plays 160,000 different songs every month.

XM said the Inno, which is manufactured by Pioneer Corp., are legal devices that allow consumers to listen to and record radio just as the law has allowed for decades.

XM said it will vigorously defend this lawsuit on behalf of consumers and also called the lawsuit a bargaining tactic.

It was only a matter of time before the RIAA tried to get their greedy hands in the pockets of Satellite radio.

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