Barney Frank: “What we are saying is, if one earns money in part by playing music, then one should share some of that with the people…”

“What we are saying is, if one earns money in part by playing music, then one should share some of that with the people whose music one is playing. This notion that there should only be one source of revenue for each program does not comport with reality. This is the principle: If one is enhancing one's own money-making ability, which is a good thing, by playing music and increasing the attractiveness of one's place, one owes some small percentage. The gentleman calculated that it would only be about 5 percent of income. Well, I do not think any of us think a 5 percent reduction in income is a minor or trivial matter. If we were talking about .005, maybe we would be in that category, but a 5 percent reduction in one's income seems to me a significant factor, and we ought not to be doing it.”