Congress To Address Digital Music

camusflage writes: "MSNBC has an article that says Representatives Rick Boucher and Chris Cannon are set to introduce legislation that will attempt to control how copyright law treats digital music, and how royalties for it are paid. Among the things the legislation is said to address is what constitutes archival and incidental copying, in-store samples, and 'extending the mechanical compulsory license to Internet file-swapping.' The article goes on to say that the RIAA previously indicated openness to the licensing, while publishers and songwriters oppose it." See also ZDNet or Reuters (this link is the best summary of the bill). And if you've got the stomach to wade through copyright law, read the bill itself. Keep in mind that introducing a bill is a long long way from making any changes in the law, and even this bill doesn't necessarily solve all of the current problems with copyright law.

Comments

Re:Not nearly far enough

[Anonymous Coward]

it does nothing to solve the fundamental problems of laws like the DMCA

Nor does it attempt to solve the fundamental problems of world hunger or erectile dysfunction. But so what? The law is aimed at furthering online music, which has nothing to do with the DMCA. Even if the DMCA were abolished completely, Napster & co. would still be in trouble for trafficking in music without the permission of the copyright holder.

The DMCA is pretty much orthogonal to this issue.

I understood it differently

[interiot]

According to an interview with a real lawyer (see shrinkwrap question), rights given to use by copyright law are simply the default rights. Even without DMCA or technological measures, it was my understanding that companies could simply say "by opening this package, you agree to...", and procede to place much stricter restrictions on you than copyright law does.

So it was my understanding that fair use can go out the window at any time, regardless of DMCA. Am I incorrect in my understanding?

Mechanical licensing

[aozilla]

Wait a second... Mechanical licensing refers to the (already enacted) compulsory license for the act of making a copy of the song, not the specific instance of the song. In other words, if I make a cover of "Baby One More Time", I can sell CDs of my cover by paying (probably Britney, through the Harry Fox Agency) under a compulsory mechanical license. I also believe this is what record companies pay to the artist. Generally the artist owns the rights to the song, and the record company owns the rights to the recording.

Mechanical licensing does not give you a compulsory license to copy an actual recording. This is most likely why the RIAA wants this, and the artists do not. It allows the owner of the recording to distribute over the internet without negotiating a license with the owner of the song.