Speaker Pelosi to music industry: 'You have an army of advocates' in Congress

Speaking at the Recording Academy's "Grammy on the Hill" advocacy event, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) voiced her support for new royalties for singers, saying songwriters and musicians deserve to be compensated for their creativity.

The Performance Rights Act would require radio stations to pay royalties to singers, as online radio and satellite radio already do. Broadcasters have fiercely pushed back against the proposal, this week saying radio stations do a great service to singers by providing free promotion of their work. Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, supports the bill, as does Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI). In the Senate, Dick Durbin (D-IL), also signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill.