Artists vs radio: America's battle royal for royalties.

A settlement to the long and bitter battle between US artists and broadcasters over performance rights could finally be on the horizon as legislation to force radio stations to pay royalties to artists when they play their records reaches Washington

For as long as anyone can remember US artists and broadcasters have been pitched in a bitter battle. The dispute is over a performance right. Currently artists in the US are not paid when their recordings are played on the radio.

Performers and record companies, naturally, condemn the $20bn (#10.12bn) radio industry for not coughing up cash in return for playing their tunes; the broadcasters accuse the industry of greed, seeking to "tax" stations and possibly force them out of business.

Like most disputes, this is about money. Lots of it. As much as $7bn, according to one analyst. There is also a moral dimension because most of the rest of the Western world pays musicians this radio royalty and other US media platforms, such as satellite and cable radio, have been paying for the privilege of spinning records for the last decade.

Just recently, the battle has been escalating. A MusicFIRST coalition, comprising everyone from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to indie group A2IM, was established last summer and has been lobbying hard for the musicians.

Founder member Tom Waits says: "The bottom line here is that radio plays music to attract listeners and bring in advertising dollars. It's just plain wrong for radio to be allowed to build profitable businesses with growing revenues on the backs of artists and musicians without paying them fairly for it."

And in the past few weeks the battleground has moved from record label boardrooms and studios to rage almost exclusively on Washington's Capitol Hill. In November Grammy winner Lyle Lovett and singer/songwriter Alice Peacock were in front of a Senate Judiciary Hearing to speak up for the performance right. The opposition, led by the powerful Washington-based National Association of Broadcasters, has hit back with its own legislative moves.