April 16, 2007
Dumbshit Dept.
Copyright Royalty Board rejects appeal
Today the Copyright Royalty Board rejected NPR's appeal of the revised Internet radio streaming royalties. Unless a court of appeals hears an appeal and puts a stop to this madness a number of businesses will be forced to close up shop. These new rates are clearly designed to put small time Internet radio companies out of business. Yet, John Simson, the ED of SoundExchange says:
"Our artists and labels look forward to working with the Internet radio industry—large and small, commercial and noncommercial—so that together we can ensure it succeeds as a place where great music is available to music lovers of all genres"
What a crock! You'll be out of business soon since no one will be able to make ends meet with these ludicrous rates! I hate you SoundExchange. You're killing Internet radio! SoundExchange is quickly surpassing the RIAA as my most hated organization on the planet. You give me the resolve to make you obsolete!
This is yet another brilliant example of why this country is losing its edge in the world market. Another industry that was spawned here and then driven off to other countries. Chances are that web casters will relocate to Canada, where the legal climate is much more tolerable than in this country. The US is working hard to make itself as uncompetitive as possible -- its painful to watch. I've always wondered what leads great nation states like Rome to their downfall. Now I have the unpleasant luxury to watch it all unfold in slow motion.
Posted by Mayhem at April 16, 2007 08:13 PM
"The US is working hard to make itself as uncompetitive as possible"... you're so right. All this ruling means is that the vested interests of a handful of fat cats - the major labels, turgid commercial broadcasters and their SoundExchange henchmen - count for more than innovation and creativity. US webcasters have created the best radio in the world, now the powers that be want to drive us all back to a diet of dull monopoly slop trying to sell the same few hundred records from a handful of dying companies to a musically apathetic listenership that's already ripped the stuff anyway. I hope the rest of the world will ignore this nonsensde and offer US online radio providers the opportunity to support music that actually counts.
I thought you might be interested in this, given your coverage of online radio.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) just released a report on Internet Radio and Copyright Royalties at an event on Capitol Hill on May 10. In the report, we describe problems with the current copyright royalty system for Internet Radio, and what steps Congress should take to reform this system. Specifically, we say that Congress should grant the same performance copyright to all broadcast technologies; modify the statutory license to allow copyright owners to specific separate rates for each sound recording; and allow copyright owners to assign separate rates to small and non-commercial webcasters.
The report is available on our website at - http://www.itif.org/files/InternetRadio.pdf
