On January 31, 2026, Gene Simmons appeared in the opinion section of the Los Angeles Times with an op-ed article supporting the Radio Fairness Act, which would add a performance royalty for music-based radio stations. However, he conveniently omitted a key fact which would have undermined his entire argument, and the Times subsequently published my rebuttal which restored that fact to the discussion. I present both here for your consideration.

Mr. Simmons' article, reproduced with the Times' permission:

This weekend, as the 68th Grammy Awards celebrates the rich tapestry of American music here in Los Angeles, we should be mindful of an enormous problem that has persisted for many decades in our industry. AM/FM radio corporations make billions of dollars each year playing our music — but under U.S. law, they are not required to compensate the performers.

That’s right. Every artist who performs at the Grammys this weekend will be paid nothing when their music plays on AM/FM radio. And I’m talking about all artists: Elvis, Sinatra, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift. While radio station owners pay songwriters and copyright holders, they do not pay performers, thanks to a loophole in copyright law and a powerful broadcast lobby that has protected it. The industry argues that radio offers “free promotion” for artists — but let’s be real: Fewer people than ever are discovering new music on AM/FM radio.

Last year alone, AM/FM radio corporations made nearly $14 billion selling ads. Artists got zero for the music that keeps listeners tuning in.

This is un-American. Even Russia and China require that artists be compensated for radio plays. Our country stands with Cuba, Iran and North Korea in allowing radio owners to avoid paying artists.

In the U.S., the law already ensures performers are paid when their music is played on TikTok, YouTube, Sirius-XM and all other music delivery platforms. It’s only AM/FM radio that gets a loophole.

The good news is that Congress can fix this. Last month, I was invited to testify during a Senate hearing on the American Music Fairness Act, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that would close the radio loophole and ensure performers are paid fairly.

At a time when Democrats and Republicans don’t see eye to eye, we all still believe that every American who works hard deserves to have that hard work honored with fair pay. When it comes to radio, that’s an ideal that’s been supported by every presidential administration for the past 50 years including, reportedly, President Trump, and by the Recording Academy, the host of the Grammys. It has long championed the right for performers to be paid for our work.

It’s also a value I first came to understand as an 8-year-old immigrant to this country, who could not even speak a word of English. I’m proud to say that I’ve had the chance to pursue my own American dream.

But the challenges that I faced are different from the ones facing artists who are just starting out today, in part because they don’t receive the same revenue from album sales that performers received in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. I’m worried we’re pulling the ladder up behind us.

The argument that radio offers free promotion no longer makes much sense. More people discover new music today on social media or streaming platforms. Meanwhile, radio keeps playing the old hits, laughing all the way to the bank.

My own kids, Nick and Sophie, are successful artists in their own right. I want them, and every new artist coming up today, to have the same opportunities that I had when I co-founded Kiss with Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. We owe it to the next generation of artists to ensure that their own American dreams remain attainable.

The music business has been turned upside down by technology, making it harder than ever for artists to make a living. It doesn’t have to be that way.

The American Music Fairness Act will fix a broken system and force big AM/FM radio corporations to finally start paying artists what they have earned.

It’s no wonder that 70% of Americans support this bill. Congress should listen to them and pass this bill without delay. Close the radio loophole. Stand up for the next generation of artists. Send the American Music Fairness Act to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

My rebuttal:

As a radio programmer with more than 50 years of experience, and knowing that guest contributor Gene Simmons is not uninformed, I found his opinions to be incomplete at best.

The key fact that he failed to be completely open about is that he, and other performing artists who are also songwriters, are already among those who already receive a royalty from radio via the music publishing rights companies such as ASCAP and BMI -- an arrangement that precedes my personal history in the industry by more than two decades. Simmons already receives those royalty payments every time anyone (be it his band or another artist) performs a song on the radio that he at least co-wrote.

In fact, two of the best-known Kiss songs, "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Shout It Out Loud," show his name as the songwriter, and several more songs by his band also carry his authorship imprint. If that sounds like he is making an argument here for "double dipping," I cannot disagree with that perception.

Further, the up-and-coming artists who he purports to be worried about also, in overwhelming proportions, tend to write or co-write their own material and receive the same songwriting credits. And the streaming services that he admits many now use to discover new music are already subject to performance royalties, as he has himself acknowledged.

Those same alternative platforms have decreased radio listening, resulting in the profit margins for stations being much lower than when I started in the business. Give us yet another mandated fee to pay, and the result will be counter to the intent: More stations will drop music formats in favor of royalty-free spoken-word formats. Is that what he wants?