The U.S. is the only major music market where artists don’t get paid when their songs are played on FM/AM radio, but why? Michael Huppe, CEO of SoundExchange, breaks down the century-old laws that shaped American radio, and what SoundExchange is doing to push for artists to get paid on radio through efforts such as the American Music Fairness Act. He joins host Kristin Robinson to unpack the history of radio, from payola scandals, the creation of satellite and online radio, the rise of consolidation and the shift from tastemaker to follower status in the streaming era. With AI radio personalities and data-driven choices on the rise in 2025, the radio landscape will certainly keep evolving in the years to come.
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Billboard On the Record is a podcast in partnership with SickBird Productions.
Kristin Robsinson: Does radio still matter in 2025? In a time when music discovery is dominated by TikTok and streaming services, what purpose does radio serve to both music fans and the music industry?
Today on the show, I’m talking to Michael Huppe, CEO of SoundExchange, an organization which collects money for artists in the U.S. on digital radio stations to understand how radio still plays a role in the music industry today, and how it’s evolved since its beginnings over 100 years ago.
Welcome back to On the Record, a music business podcast from Billboard and SickBird Productions. Today, I’m talking to Mike Huppe about all things radio.
I have to admit that I rarely listen to radio these days, and most of my friends don’t either. But even though my friends and I seem to have fallen off of it, the reality is that radio is still decently strong in the U.S. About eight in 10 Americans ages 12 and older listen to AM or FM radio — which is often called terrestrial radio — in a given week, according to Pew Research. It is true, however, that radio’s popularity has waned significantly, down 10% from 2009 to 2022, and the way that we consume it is also changing. Nowadays, more and more people listen to radio on apps, more shows are syndicated nationwide, and some radio listeners have switched from terrestrial radio to internet or satellite radio like Sirius XM, the latter of which often features artist focus or holiday specific stations to hit a much more targeted niche audience.
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