When the Signal Fades

🎙️ $4A$ Journal — “When the Signal Fades”

Subject line ideas:

• “What Happens When the Signal Fades?”

• “If AM Dies, What Else Goes With It?”

• “Radio’s Future and Songwriters’ Paychecks”

When the Signal Fades

(By Terrance Sawchuk)

Congress is moving to protect AM radio, but the story beneath the headline runs much deeper.
Last week, a House committee advanced the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require automakers to keep AM receivers in new vehicles for at least eight more years. Supporters argue it’s about public safety and emergency access, but there’s another layer nobody’s really talking about:
it’s about creative economics — and what happens when the pipes that pay songwriters start drying up.

The Quiet Disappearance of Royalties

If terrestrial radio — AM and FM alike — continues to fade without legislative protection or parity rules for digital streaming, we risk more than just static on the dial. We risk losing one of the few remaining revenue streams where songwriters are actually paid predictable performance royalties.

Terrestrial radio performance royalties flow through PROs like BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, and others — and they’ve long provided a relatively stable, trackable, and reportable source of income. When listening shifts entirely to digital platforms, that model cracks. Streaming doesn’t pay songwriters on performance the same way; it pays fractions of pennies through convoluted formulas that were never built to support a middle class of creators.

If legislation doesn’t evolve, the next generation of artists may never know what consistent royalty income even feels like.

Wall Street’s “Correlated Asset” Might Not Be So Predictable

It’s not just artists who should be paying attention.
Over the past decade, hedge funds and investment firms poured billions into music catalogs, calling them “predictable cash-flow assets.”
They treated hits like bonds — steady, low-risk returns built on royalty predictability.

But what happens when the reliable part of that equation — radio performance royalties — starts to erode because terrestrial airplay shrinks and streaming dominates? Those returns aren’t as “correlated” anymore.
And when Wall Street catches a cold, creators usually end up with pneumonia.

The Artist’s Reality Check

This isn’t a doomsday scenario — it’s a call to wake up.
We can’t wait for lawmakers or lobbyists to fix the gap between digital innovation and songwriter compensation.
Creators need to own their broadcast, build their direct-to-fan portals, and create new forms of predictable income that aren’t at the mercy of platform payouts or outdated legislation.

In other words, if the radio tower’s signal starts to fade, make sure you’ve built your own.

The Takeaway

The world keeps changing its frequency.
You can either chase the next signal — or become it.

The music business will always evolve, but ownership is the one wavelength that never goes out of range.

Keep broadcasting your worth.
Keep protecting your signal.

—
🎧 Terrance "Terry" Sawchuk
$old 4 a $ong | $4A$ Journal
www.terrancesawchuk.com
Helping creators own, monetize, streamline and sustain their signal.

This is your journey towards creating your own path to artistic freedom, without bending to external pressures.

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To your success and creativity,

Terrance Sawchuk
Founder, $old 4 a $ong Book™