Gene Simmons called on Congress to pass new legislation that would finally secure payments for artists when their music is played on radio , declaring that under the current system artists are treated “worse than slaves.”

The Kiss bassist appeared Tuesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing on the American Music Fairness Act, a bill that, if enacted, would require radio companies to pay artists for the use of their recordings on the radio. Currently, only songwriters get royalties from radio airplay, not the artists who performed the track (whether lead performer or backing musicians).

In an impassioned, sometimes rambling speech, Simmons stressed the importance of passing this bill by noting that some of the biggest artists of all time — who often sang other peoples’ work — neve

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