ascap is governed by a consent decree created in 1941 and last updated in 2001. that's, incidentally, before the ipod ever hit a store. we all know the music marketplace has changed dramatically since then, and new -- sadly, new music services are finding ways to take advantage of this outdated regulatory system. consider the fact that it takes one million streams on pandora for a songwriter to earn $90, 9-0 dollars. for some perspective, one of the most popular songs in 2011 was lady antebellum's wonderful hit, "need you know." for 72 million streams on pandora, the four song writers earned less than $1500 apiece. .. i sit herhere surrounded by representatives of multibillion-dollar corporations that profit from our songs and i find it beyond perplexing, american songwriters like roseanne and myself are ones subject to heaviest government regulation. be that as it may, i believe all of us working together to modernize the music licensing system will allow songwriters and composers to thrive alongside businesses that revolve around our music. we want you to be a

i think ascap has similar growth figures. and so i'm not sure where the idea that we're losing songwriters is coming from. >> may i respond to that? >> yes. >> we have grown in the number of songwriters. the advent of the internet has helped us sign songwriters online more than ever before. the question of how many songwriters are still getting paid, is that number growing and that is not growing. >> i thank the gentleman. gentleman's time expired. gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold. >> i would like to take a minute just to say a word about the -- our previous questioner was asking just because things are the way they are. well, businesses count on things being the way that they are. the local radio station is counting on the things continue to be the way they are when they decide whether or not to give the morning dj a raise or go out and buy a new transmitter. so as we change these rules, we've got to be very leery of the fact that different companies throughout the country have invested and made business decisions based

performers are brought to you in part by the american society of composers, authors and publishers, ascapsong writers. >> elvis presley still making music history more than 50 years after he began. elvis

performers are brought to you in part by the american society of composers, authors and publishers, ascap began. elvis presley's graceland is proud t

we pay hundreds of millions of dollars to ascap, bmi and csac. we pay tens of millions of dollars to sound exchange, and we do participate on the digital side. many broadcasters, unfortunately, cannot make a go of that as other entrants in the digital arena have found. with the way the laws are written today, we cannot make money. that is not a model that's going to be a healthy one for any of the participants here. so from a nab perspective, we would very much like to see changes made in the streaming rate standards so that all of the participants here who all have concerns there can participate more fully and grow a platform that will benefit artists, writers, performers, labels, all apartments here. all apartments here. >> other examples? anybody else? >> i think one of the things that we'd also like to see from congress is at some point in time if you all can define what a performance is. nobody has yet been able to tell us what a performance is. if you listen to sound exchange, they'll tell you that it's three seconds long. they won't tell y