Last-minute deal is music to webcasters ears — I don’t know why I didn’t notice this before. But this was apparently all about the fact that the Internet radio stations somehow made it easier for people to capture music streams. Very bogus.
SoundExchange Inc. the nonprofit organization set up by the Recording Industry Association of America to collect so-called digital performance royalties for recording artists and record companies, has agreed to compromise with small and large music webcasters over new, higher royalty rates set to go into effect Sunday.
“SoundExchange has offered to extend 1998-era below market rates to small commercial webcasters, and to keep rates at 2003 levels for thousands of noncommercial webcasters. This would mean that the vast majority of Internet services would have no rate increase of any kind from 1998-2010,” according to a statement download PDF.
In addition, Richard Ades, a spokesman for SoundExchange, said the organization has offered to cap the minimum fees to be paid by large music webcasters at $50,000, a figure that will last through 2010 or for the life of the new, higher rates.
“Were just asking that there be better antistream ripping technology and better reporting [of how much music is streamed],” Ades said. “We made the offer to the Digital Media Association and announced it before a roundtable discussion before members of Congress last night. Weve heard that well hear back — the negotiations are ongoing.”
As usual, it’s about the DRM. These sleazy bastards would rather cut off your nose to spite their pocketbook.
And how would these people know if I had Audacity or Nero Wave Editor running to capture a stream, or even had my analog cassette deck connected to my sound card? Idiots.
These people won’t be satisfied until everything is pay-per-play. Lousy music sales figures are due to lousy music, plain and simple. People simply are tired of paying high prices for garbage.
If the royalty payments are too high, internet broadcasters will simply close up shop, and then they will be raking in zero. Then they’ll have to find another way to squeeze blood from stones.
[Message deleted – See Comment Guidelines. – ed.]
They only keep falling back on the DRM / Piracy thing because nobody can make a legitimate argument against that angle. I believe the real thing is that they are trying to find additional revenue streams, and perhaps trying to protect the traditional media. They are shooting themselves in the foot. How about embracing and using the new technology instead of fighting it?
I listen to Pandora and hearing new (to me) music on it has resulted in my going and purchasing some of those songs as well as some other stuff from the same artists.
I had e-mailed on of my representatives several months ago. I phoned all 3 of them yesterday.
Yep, this is all about money. Who knew? (besides everybody)
RIAA has been harassing music listeners for years. Now they have these higher rates they can hang over the internet radio like the Sword of Damoclese, and pretend to be generous by raising rates.
The RIAA board is made up entirely of lobbyists representing an industry that is 98% foreign owned.
Bill via Doc Searls
As Bill McKibben wrote in Harper¹s Magazine, December, 2003, “When a train car overturned in Minot, North Dakota, last year, a large quantity of ammonia spilled out, sending up a cloud of poison gas. Local officials quickly tried to contact the town’s seven radio stations to send out the alarm — only to find that there was no one actually working in six of them. They were simply relaying a satellite feed from Clear Channel headquarters in Texas — there was plenty of country music and golden oldies and Top 40 and right-wing chat, but no one to warn about the toxic cloud drifting overhead. It’s true that you can hear anything from anywhere at any time, but, oddly, it’s gotten a lot harder to hear much about your immediate vicinity.”
Packet switching AM got things rolling.
Beat them at their own game… buy an instrument and make up your own songs…. 😀
But how does this affect an internet radio station is Canada or Europe?
To go OT (no, not Operating Thetan) for a sec, you do see the irony in this –
“[Message deleted – See Comment Guidelines. – ed.]”
– appearing on a Weblog with the word ‘uncensored’ in it’s very title, don’t you, ed?
Just an observation. 🙂
8,
any nation that acknowledges Us copyrights, and/or Plays USA music, is a concern.