The battle over radio recording royalties on Capitol Hill pits two very distressed industries against one another.  The recording industry is navigating a category-five digital disruption, and terrestrial radio has its own bundle of problems.  According to second quarter figures surfacing Monday, US-based, terrestrial advertising across local and national accounts slumped a heavy 25 percent to $3.4 billion.  Overall revenues slipped 22 percent to $4.2 billion for the period, according to data from the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).

It gets worse.  Over the first half, advertising dropped 23 percent to $7.6 billion, though digital formats showed small gains.  Some advertising segments actually improved, including fast food and pre-paid celullar accounts, perhaps a ‘sign of the times’.  But the biggest advertisers – US-based automobile manufacturers – continued their dial-down, leaving radio with a tricky predicament ahead.  And, little appetite for increased royalty requirements.