Proposed Law Would Reverse Internet Radio Royalty Rate Hike
from the sensibility-prevails? dept
Earlier in the week, we noted how difficult it was to come up with "good" internet laws that politicians had enacted. Perhaps we should do that more often, as since then, legislation has been proposed that would overturn the pointless ban on online gambling, while now, two congressmen have introduced a bill that would overturn the recent decision of the Copyright Royalty Board to drastically increase internet radio royalty rates. The CRB rejected webcasters' appeal of those new rates (which were pushed through by the RIAA). The bill sets compromise rates that would be significantly lower for most, if not all, net radio programmers: 7.5 percent of revenues "directly related to" its broadcasts, or 33 cents per hour of recordings transmitted to a single user. The original article says the law would also apply to "satellite and cable radio" broadcasters, but it's not clear if that extends to companies like XM and Sirius, which are locked in fight with RIAA over the level of royalties they pay, with the industry group wanting 30 percent of their revenues. Obviously the bill's a long way from becoming law, and the RIAA is sure to send its lobbyists to visit its friends on Capitol Hill to see what they can do. While it's nice to see these good internet laws, it's too bad they all seem to exist solely to reverse bad ones.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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You can help too
Go here and send a message to your congressional representatives too!!
http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541
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Internet radio threatens traditional broadcasters. NAB has way more juice in Washington than the RIAA.
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i no longer own a radio in my house
i also am not against paying for the music i like on internet radio.
i am not interested in adding to the bottom lines of RIAA, NAB, Clear Channel, or even Live Nation.
I dont turn on the radio in the morning to lisen to the 3 DJ's complaining or bragging abiout the parenting.
i'll pay to listen to what i like, and won't take what others want to push, even for free.
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i won't kill ya, i'll just break your kneecaps....
it's all profit for the whores that actually get the revenue.......
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Why is the government involved?
Simple supply and demand will take care of this. If the producers charge too much for their product (music), then the customers will either find cheaper alternatives, or not use it.
This is simply an issue between a vendor and a customer. Can someone please explain to me why Congress is now involved?
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Re: Why is the government involved?
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Re: Why is the government involved?
The economic role of government is to keep real competition alive. When pirates like the RIAA bribe their way to monopoly status, it is up government to bring down the hammer.
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Why congress is involved...
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.33 cents not 33 cents
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Re: .33 cents not 33 cents
Michael, thanks for the comment -- I haven't seen the .33 cents per hour figure mentioned anywhere, but the 33 cents figure has been repeated many times. However, Thomas.gov doesn't seem to yet have the actual text of the bill (HR 2060, apparently), and I've not been able to find it elsewhere. But I'll keep checking.
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Re: Re: .33 cents not 33 cents
H.R. 2060 direct link:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h2060i h.txt
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not to be too cynical, but
Plus now we've decided that legislative battles will continue into the courts regardless of what is passed, the incentive to do a good job is diminished.
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Not good enough
When you contact your congressperson, ask them to amend this law to require equality for all broadcasters. Anything less is an assault on American free enterprise.
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RADIO =CLEARCHANNEL = MOST MUSIC VENUES
Whenever you listen to the "different" radio stations bear in mind you are probably having mindsex with a clearchannel programmer because they own most of your radio stations. Period.
Ugh.
Now THAT'S the problem- and the greedy bastards at RIAA need to come clean on how they rip off artists through illegal sales overseas that aren't reported back to the artist for royalies owed, the other numerous and varied scams they run on artists etc.. most artists would rather not speak up as it can be career suicide.
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Why in the blue heck are you guys agreeing to ADD ON to a bullshit law rather than demand its complete and utter removal?!
Jeez, I swear you guys give the government so much power that you don't even realise, even with this contrived "patch" in place, $0.33 is still greater than $0, so the idiots in the IP industry are still earning a free check, for no effort whatsoever.
THE POINT IS NOT TO LET THEM DO THIS. A COMPROMISE DOES NOT REVERSE ANYTHING!
Once again, you've fallen into the "lesser of 2 evils" trap that your government uses...
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Poor attention to detail
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simple question?????
thank you SUPREME
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