p2pnet - rss feed: Has the bell tolled for Net radio?
p2pnet.net news:- SoundExchange Executive Director John Simson (right) is absolutely delighted.
Three judges have upheld the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) earlier decision to boost the royalty rates for streaming Net radio.
None of the “moving parties have made a sufficient showing of new evidence or clear error or manifest injustice that would warrant rehearing,” ruled the panel, going on, to the contrary, “most of the parties’ arguments in support of a rehearing or reconsideration merely restate arguments that were made or evidence that was presented during the proceeding.”
The CRB also said No to a stay in the implementation of the new royalty rates (2006-2010) until all legal appeals had been exhausted, says Royalty Week.
“Our artists and labels look forward to working with the Internet Radio industry - large and small, commercial and non-commercial - so that together we can ensure it succeeds as a place where great music is available to music lovers of all genres,” has Simson declaring.
Spun off from Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the SoundExchange recently claimed it couldn’t find some 9,000 artists to whom it owed royalties.
“A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations, small start-up companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like Yahoo Inc and Time Warner Inc.’ AOL had objected to the new royalties set March 2, saying they would force a drastic cut in services that are now enjoyed by some 50 million people,” says MarketWatch.
Is this indeed the end for Net radio as it is today? Not if groups such as if SAVENETRADIO and people such as entertainment lawyer Fred Wilhelms can help it.
“The new royalty rates were requested by the major labels who control the RIAA, but their artists are already heavily promoted on broadcast radio while 95% of artists need Internet radio,” says the SaveNetRadio petition. “These higher rates will force many small, non-profit and public service radio stations to stop broadcasting on the Internet, and will virtually eliminate all small and medium-sized webcasters.
And the remaining large webcasters will stop streaming too, says the coalition. “The few that continue will be forced to negotiate special deals with major record labels that will require more major label content and less independent content to be performed.”
Moreover, the new deals will cut out the artist altogether, warns SaveNetRadio, stating:
“If you are among the artists who have received SoundExchange royalties from Internet radio, those will disappear because the major labels’ direct deals with webcasters will allow them to circumvent the 50/50 split mandated by the webcast laws and keep 100% of the revenue.”
Wilhelms (fred.wilhelms@gmail.com) is collecting artist names from clients and friends in the recording artist community protesting the decision.
“It is my firm belief, shared by almost everyone not on the CRB or working for SoundExchange, that the new rates will severely cripple Internet radio by leaving it in the hands of a small group of well-heeled players,” he says.
“In other words, it will look, and sound, exactly like terrestrial radio. All those great places to hear new and unusual music, and even ‘niche’ genres like soul, jazz, blues and folk, are in jeopardy of closing down, or moving their operations outside the US, where the artists won’t get paid for the use of their recordings.”
“Online radio is one of the Internet’s quiet success stories,” Canadian law professor and Net expert Michael Geist, believes, saying, “While podcasting and Internet video garner the lion share of attention, webcasting has emerged as a major force with millions tuning in daily to thousands of services that freely stream their signals online.”
“Given the concern about the future viability of Internet radio in the U.S., there has been mounting speculation that some webcasters may consider setting up shop in Canada, where the U.S. rates do not apply.”
Also See:
Royalty Week - CRB Denies Webcaster Request for Royalty Rate Rehearing, April 16, 2007
couldn’t find - Big Music Owes You Money !!!, September 29, 2006
MarketWatch - Copyright Royalty Board rejects appeals from Web broadcasters, April 16, 2007
well-heeled players - Dear SoundExchange ……, April 11, 2007
setting up shop in Canada - Cuban agrees with Geist, April 11, 2007
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the endSurvey: How Did Copyright Infringement Become Equated with Robbery? (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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April 17th, 2007 at 9:03 am
And yet again the goverment does what is ‘right’ for the incumbents to the detrement of the public and artists.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Why can’t independent artists cut their own deal with Internet radio stations? Are they allowed to do so, or is this mandated government price fixing? Maybe we need a thing called peer to peer Internet Radio.
It is a major shame that the U.S. government is forcing more companies to locate overseas, but I guess that the U.S. government is bound and determined to destroy the U.S.
U.S. Government=Treasonous Traitors
April 17th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Here’s a thought, and it’s just a thought, because I don’t really know how the whole royalties thing works. But..
If new artists want to get their stuff heard on net radio, and it’s still up to them ( they haven’t signed a contract that prohibits it or something), perhaps they could legally agree to have their music played royalty free on any radio station that wants, anytime it wants, anywhere it wants, net radio or otherwise.
Then while the already signed bands are not getting their stuff played because the little radio stations can’t afford the royalties, the new music will be all over the net getting all kinds of free airtime and thus advertising.
If this eventually happens this way, it might actually be helpful to new artists since suddenly THEY will be the ones who get the lion’s share of airplay, and thus, publicity, on a lot of net radio stations that can’t afford the new royalty rates. I would definitely be tuning in to the newer music.