David Byrne, Mike Mills formerly of R.E.M, Cake’s John McCrea, Tift Merritt, and Marc Ribot performed at NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge Tuesday evening. The concert supported Content Creators Coalition-NYC, a group currently petitioning congress for pay-for-play radio royalties for artists, Consequence Of Sound reported.

As it stands now, when a recording is played on the radio, the composer is paid a royalty but not the recording artist (unless they happen to be the composer.)

Byrne covered “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie to make a point.

“Mr. Markie didn’t write that tune (although he did probably write the rap),” Byrne wrote in his e-newsletter. “The drum and keyboard loop was lifted from a Freddie Scott recording, but the song was written by Gamble and Huff, the great songwriting team that wrote for The O’Jays and The Spinners. So chances are Biz Markie didn’t see any royalties from all the radio play that song got.”

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