Grab your aux cord, because there’s a possibility that your favorite radio station is about to lose the rights to a lot of music.

A legal dispute between music rights organization Global Music Rights (GMR), which represents songwriters for artists such as Pharrell, Drake, and The Beatles, and the Radio Music Licensing Committee (RMLC), a group that represents commercial radio stations in music licensing matters, could pull a lot of songs by major artists off of radio stations nationwide.

GMR, a performing rights organization founded by former entertainment executive Irving Azoff, claims in its lawsuit that current licensing fees are too low, causing songwriters to be under-compensated. GMR’s suit against RMLC reportedly accuses radio stations of acting as a “cartel” that works to keep payments to songwriters low. The lawsuit demands that these fees be raised.

In its dueling lawsuit against GMR, RMLC accuses the organization of trying to “force the radio industry into paying exorbitant prices for a license to the musical works it claims are covered by its repertory, with a credible threat of financially ruinous copyright infringement litigation.” Calling GMR’s objectives “unlawful,” the lawsuit claims that GMR has been luring away songwriters from other performance-rights organizations ASCAP and BMI with promises of higher compensation. This would force radio stations to give in to demands of higher licensing fees, or else risk losing a whole roster of songs.

ASCAP and BMI have agreed to pay royalty rates to artists at rate of 4 percent of stations’ revenues, according to Rolling Stone.

If the dispute is not resolved, it could mean that many stations would be unable to afford the licensing fees for songs written by many of the top songwriters of today. Songwriters represented by GMR are reportedly responsible for 7.5 percent of all songs on the radio.

In the midst of RMLC’s legal battle with GMR, the organization also just signed an agreement with ASCAP to increase royalties for ASCAP members. The agreement seemed to be reached amicably, and the RMLC chairman seemed to aim a subtle jab at GMR in a statement to Billboard: “This agreement demonstrates how the creative and music user communities can work together in good faith to produce an outcome that is positive for both sides.”

This legal battle could potentially turn out to be a big one for the radio industry, as it struggles to survive in the era of digital music.

Editor’s Note: This article has been modified to make a correction to the names of artists with songs written by GMR-represented songwriters.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

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It’s long been a pretty poorly kept secret in the fashion industry that many models are very thin–some dangerously so. For years, there’s been various debates in the industry over whether or not to make rules restricting the weight of models to ensure that the women (and men) showing off the latest high fashion designs are a healthy weight. Now France, one of the bastions of the fashion world, took a pretty strong step in that direction. A new French law prevents super-skinny models from being hired by designers and fashion houses. Industry members who do so may be subject to fines, or possibly even jail time.

The new law would essentially ban models who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) under 18. BMIs are calculated on a sort of sliding scale that takes into account an individual’s height and weight. The BMI then fits into one of a few different categories–including under healthy weight, healthy weight, overweight, and obese. However, doctors would also be consulted to ensure that the BMI test was being administered fairly, and to take into account the unique build and structure of the individual. Under a BMI of 18.5 is usually considered under healthy weight, and can be a marker to determine if someone has an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia. There’s been an increased awareness brought to the problem of anorexia recently, particularly after the death of Isabelle Caro, a French fashion model who passed away most likely due to the disease in 2010.

An important aspect of the law to keep in mind is that it punishes the agencies or houses that hire the models, not the models themselves. This is to keep members of the industry from putting pressure on the models to lose weight, or stay at an unhealthy weight. As Dr. Oliver Véran, one of the legislators behind the bill put it, “a person should not be obliged to starve herself in order to work.”

France isn’t the first country to implement laws about the sizes of its fashion models. Other nations, such as Israel, Spain, and Italy have limited measures in place as well. However France’s seems to be the most sweeping. In France, punishments for employing a model who is below the healthy weight threshold could include a fine of up to 75,000 Euros ($82,000, under the current exchange rate), or up to six months of jail time.

Not everyone is on board with the new legislation however. Some think that the restrictions are too harsh, as well as too sweeping–they don’t allow as much ability to decide on an ad-hoc basis whether or not a model is healthy. That criticism includes the argument that just because a model has a BMI over the given level, does not mean that they are “healthy,” but could still be suffering from a debilitating eating disorder. Isabelle Saint-Felix, who heads up France’s National Union of Modeling Agencies stated:

When you look at the criteria behind anorexia, you can’t look only at the body mass index when other criteria are also involved: psychological, a history of hair loss, dental problems. It’s important that the models are healthy, but it’s a little simplistic to think there won’t be any more anorexics if we get rid of very thin models.

Overall, the recognition of possible dangerous attitudes in the modeling industry seems like a step in the right direction. That being said, there is clearly still more work to be done to ensure the fact that the models from the world’s top designers are healthy role models.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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