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Senate Committee Holds Webcasting Hearing
jonathanjo writes "Yesterday (5/15/02) the US Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled: "Copyright Royalties: Where is the Right Spot On The Dial For Webcasting." This was a review of the work of CARP, the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, the group formed by the DMCA that has closed down webstreaming for many independent radio stations with new high fees and exhaustive reporting requirements. Representatives from RIAA, Digital Media Association, Arbitron, Real Networks, and Yahoo gave testimony, as well as people representing two independent Vermont webcasters, and the American Federation Of Television and Radio Artists. Senator Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) testimony was surprisingly sympathetic to small webcasters (especially by inviting two from his state to speak). Orrin Hatch gave the expected pro-DMCA boilerplate."
KCRW, an LA NPR station, has been playing PSAs about this. They have a great page with a sample letter to your Congresscritter. And be sure to check out SaveInternetRadio.org. This is something the average non-slashdot-reader can understand far more than they can or will bother to comprehend DMCA, SSSCA, or the Russian who wrote software that let people read books, so there is a slight chance that the forces of ignorance won't take this round.
This is a direct result of poltical pressure from small webcasters, and shows that the system does respond to such pressure.
Last Thursday, before the Roundtable at the Library of Congress on the CARP recordkeeping rules, there was a "Hill Walk" organized by Kevin Shively of Beethoven.com and other small webcasters, who went to the Capitol and meet with legislators and their staffers to explain their position. Earlier, on May 1, the same group organized the "day of silence" on Internet radio, to show the result if the situation wasn't changed. This hearing was one result from this politcal campaign.
More information about this grass-roots effort can be found at SaveInternetRadio.com, and some of the best coverage is in the Radio and Internet Newsletter.
Perhaps its time for a new industry association to pick up the reigns the RIAA dropped? How about a new entity that's tech friendly who could sign new artists (its not impossible)? I'm sure most musicians wouldn't mind having new revenue streams to tap, its just more money in their pockets. All I'm saying is I wouldn't mind seeing someone defending the artists that had a clue and wasn't refusing to face the tides of change. By properly paying the artists the money they are due, and selling CDs at a decent price, online distribution could more than easily make up the slack of the lower prices/reduced profits that the RIAA has in place now. Online distribution/radio HAS to be cheaper than retail channels. Common sense says so. All that would really be needed is to sign the new acts the RIAA would like and slowly convert the currently popular ones. Who in their right mind would stay with the RIAA backed companies if they can see the greener side of the fence? (pun intended)
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"