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RIAA Protests Digital Radio

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the digital-radio-not-ruined-yet dept.

prostoalex writes "Afraid that digital radio listeners might soon be able to cherry-pick certain songs and share them with others on the Internet, RIAA urged FCC to consider broadcast regulations that limit such copying. The National Association of Broadcasters is not too happy with RIAA's request, as more than three hundred broadcasters either have digital CD-quality radio, or are in the process of setting them up. Meanwhile, as MSNBC notes, products like The Bug from Pure Digital are already capable of recording digital radio."

15 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. What would be cool... by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    is if the RIAA created a new digital radio that had a CDR in it, and the user could select "download & rip" for 1$ like in iTunes and the radio would compress the song into FLAC, ogg, or mp3, and burn it to the next track.

    Or can digital radios already do this?

    --
    Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    1. Re:What would be cool... by Enraged_jawa · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You don't need a digital radio, programs like StationRipper (http://www.ratajik.com/StationRipper) have been around for quite a while that let you save songs from streaming radio (like Shoutcast) as mp3's, including the correct tags.

  2. Howard Stern Gone.. Internet Radio Gone... by artlu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, this was only a matter of time. Most people I know listen to Internet Radio more then their own libraries anymore especially on iTunes. Does this mean that Sirius is going to get regulated too because of broadcasting music at such a high quality? What about the people in the 80s/90s who listened to regular radio and recorded songs to tape?

    Second, I was always a subtle Howard Stern fan, but now with what is going on with clear channel, his broadcasts are more entertaining then just the stupid fart jokes. He really is going through a struggle, and the FCC/RIAA are seeing great times to strike out with the election.

    Let's stop going back in the time machine...

    Thanks,
    Aj

    GroupShares.com - Free Stock Logs/Commentary

    --
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    artlu.net
    1. Re:Howard Stern Gone.. Internet Radio Gone... by SmurfButcher+Bob · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Slightly OT, but...

      Actually, ClearChannel *wants* Stern off the radio. CC only had him in 6 markets... and competed against him in the others. Actually, they competed against him in those markets also - they have sister stations (with competing morning shows) in all of them.

      Obviously in those markets, their morning drive takes a bath going up against him. Where I live, Stern fluctuates between a 38 to a 45 share, and peaked in one book at a 53 share... imagine driving to work, and *every-other car on the road* is listening to him (every-other as in "even-odd"). Half. Freakin HALF. This leaves the other 12 stations in my area competing for scraps - 12 stations competing for 48%. Right off the bat, their numbers are starting at half. Stern cornered a 53% share. 2nd place came in with a 7.3 share (prior to Stern, they averaged 15-17). 3rd came in with a 6.2. 4th... rofl... 3.1. The rest were all 1s and 2s, and most dropped their morning shows and simply play music. Doomed.

      Six stations is all CC had him on, and he kind of slaughters their morning drives in all markets where he competes against them. Business decision - if he's in your market, none of your stations will make any money in Morning Drive, the most important day-part in Radio. Even if you have him on one of your stations - your others in that market are still screwed. What do you do?

      It kind of explains why CC won't buy out his contract - depending on how it works, one possibility is that upon termination, the exclusivity goes away - any other station in those six markets would be free to pick him up. They'd be right back at square one, where none of their morning day-parts would make money. They'd need to delay the "ending" of that contract for as long as possible. It also explains why their lobby "donations" have gone up a bit as of late.

      So, Stern isn't gone - what we're seeing is yet another almost-monopoly trying to maintain itself. If there's big money behind getting Stern thrown off the air, it's from ClearChannel...

      --

      help me i've cloned myself and can't remember which one I am

  3. Other ways to make copying undesirable. by MurrayTodd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Oh come on! There's an (overused) trick to prevent people from creating their music libraries from taping off the radio today: it's when the radio DJ "talks" into the first 10 seconds or so of the song, or fades one song into the other.

    That makes every piece annoying enough that I doubt many people are going to want to record anything other than maybe entire programs.

    --
    Murray Todd Williams
  4. Re:And next up... by thepoch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My post won't really be very helpful...

    But I remembered reading once about the RIAA or some recording studio not liking the idea of cellphone ringtones of popular music. This resulted in cellphone companies having to pay royalties for every ringtone that they sell. Imagine... ringtones (the old ones anyway) are just beeps in different notes! It seems that, technically, you're also not allowed to whistle anymore.

    Just some lame and useless info for everyone.

  5. Tired of them by div_2n · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I for one am completely and totally tired of their antics. We geeks have power and can be a serious force. I am issuing a challenge at this moment. We need to develop an alternative path for customers and artists to take to bypass them.

    I am confident that if we can all band together, we can overcome. I am talking about a distribution system that is based on open standards that allows payment to go directly to artist with minimal (if any) overhead.

    Here is what I propose:

    -A non-profit organization comprised of volunteers
    -Create a website to serve as a repository of songs to be distributed via bittorrent
    -Payment taken in the form of Paypal donations
    -Payment is artist AND song specific based completely on an honor system
    -To encourage reasonable sized payments, offer bonuses for tiered donations
    -For example, after $100 is donated to band X, the customer becomes eligble for free concert tickets or something
    -Payment is dispursed to artists in entirety
    -Artists are encouraged to donate back a portion of their payments to cover costs of bandwidth, etc.
    -No DRM to be used and only open formats for music.
    -Songs should be available in varying qualities.

    Maybe this exact model has already been proposed, I don't know. Comments and suggestions welcome. I have issued the challenge, will anyone answer?

  6. Re:What's next? by Entropius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's a story that gets retold in music history classes a lot.

    Around 1800 there was an old and incredibly beautiful choral piece that a particular monastery/order/whatever wanted to, in effect, keep a monopoly on. They'd perform the thing as part of the Mass, but wouldn't share the score with any who weren't in the order and performing themselves. This had been the situation for around two hundred years.

    Well, around 1800 a smart-aleck goes to one of the Masses, hears the piece, comes home, and writes down all the notes from memory. (Anyone familiar with Renaissance motets knows what a feat this is.)

    That smart-aleck? Mozart.

    (Dr. Sanders, forgive me if I got a few details wrong.)

  7. Time for DeCSS Gallery v2 by t_allardyce · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It would be a great idea, similar to the DeCSS Gallery, to document every possible way you can copy/save/record any auido/video stream including schematics and code for DIY hardware boxes (like phreaking boxes) and software in many forms (t-shirts, songs, art, or just plain code etc..). Cover every hardware platform, every media format and every method, from micro-phone-to-speaker to full digital stream copies. Make sure the site shows how much of a joke this is but at the same time gives a useful resource and of course, make many many mirrors of it. If its already been done then great, whats the url? but if it hasnt it would be a great project (funded by t-shirt sales). All these great copying methods from pressing shift to blacking out the edges of CDs to decryption need to be in one place. Device-by-device guides showing you pin-outs and wiring instructions, code for PICs etc and what country sells the tools you need. The site should conform to some basic common sense rules i.e displaying "copyright violation is a criminal offence" etc and the thinking being that what you do with your own property in your own home is your business.

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  8. Talk to your friends by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do your part to talk with your acquaintances and encourage them not to support the RIAA.

    Whining on Slashdot won't get much accomplished. Convincing people that they won't be able to enjoy music how they like it in the near future will make a difference.

    Just last night I carefully explained to a friend who enjoys listening to Cold exactly why she should take a look at which record labels publish those CDs. It's pretty simple--sure, you may be able to buy the CD now, but the next one might be copy protected. If you buy stuff that is put out by those who aren't part of this major media conglomerate, then you won't be encouraging such business tactics.

    I don't know how much of my message was actually heard and how much was just glossed over, but by the time I finished talking she seemed to be at least a little more aware that there should be more to CD purchasing than just finding what you like.

    For me, it is COMPLETELY about the record label. I use the RIAA Radar like nobody's business, and I try my absolute hardest only to buy CDs that come up clean when checked there. There are several highly-desirable purchases I refuse to make because I would be supporting the RIAA. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make because I understand the implications of giving in.

    Fortunately, my music tastes lean towards electronic ("techno"), which is quite predisposed towards free sharing and downloading. Right now I can give you URLs to four artists' music sites that allow you to download 128kbps or better mp3s of those artists songs without any DRM. There are plenty of indie labels and pro-P2P/sharing musicians out there in other genres, but it appears to me that my favorite type of music has the largest percentage.

  9. A giant sharing network? by ChunkBeefpile · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "U.S. regulators at the Federal Communications Commission should ensure that the broadcast format limits such copying so radio stations don't turn the airwaves into a giant file-sharing network, RIAA officials said."

    So the RIAA doesn't want radio to become a giant sharing network?
    You're the ones broadcasting your signal into our airspace. You don't want to share? Turn off the transmitter.

  10. Re:People do this already! by ahfoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well this is the whole bizarre point.
    The RIAA has spent all this effort and garnered all this bad publicity over P2P, but there's this alternative to P2P that leads to precisely the same result and it is clearly legal.
    And it's not just P2P. The whole notion of the PVR is almost identical to time shifting digital radio. The end result of using time shifting technology on digital radio and HDTV is identical to using P2P. The user ends up with a hard drive full of MP3s and MPEGs. But this is hardly an argument in their favor, this is daming evidence against their earlier quixotic foibles.
    The conclusion that digital radio and PVR technology brings to center stage is what everyone has said all along --they were wrong. P2P was legit all along and this is the best evidence. The identical result of P2P still arises even without P2P. The simple fact is that this has never been a moral issue, it has been a technical issue that they have tried to simply run from because they procrastincated too long on innovating.
    The digital radio issue isn't the **AA's next victim, it's the last straw.

  11. Re:People do this already! by Omnifarious · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is an argument for legalization. Copyright was concieved of as a balance. Since copying is now so easy, the cost to society of restricting it is much higher.

    One way to look at constitutional protections is to see them as a set of restrictions that are designed to prevent the government from being able to pass, or enforce laws that are obnoxious burdens on freedom.

    It's very telling that drug laws require serious weakening of the 4th ammendment to enforce. It's now to the point where enforcement of copyright law will require even more obnoxious violations of the 4th ammendment, by some interpretations, the 3rd ammendment, and by some interpretations, the 5th ammendment.

    --
    Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
  12. Re:And next up... by kfg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sing songs written before 1923.

    Pretty much half my stock in trade. Die Gadanken Sind Frei goes back perhaps a thousand years and is still, unfortunately, topical today.

    Stephen Foster, Scot Joplin, Civil War songs. Lots of good public domain stuff out there.

    Unfortunately Mississippi John Hurt didn't record until 1929 and that's when the copyright starts counting from, Robert Johnson later than that. The blues, a pure folk medium, is propriatary. Even given life of the author plus 50 years it will be some time before it becomes public domain, and many publishers are claiming that the clock starts at the time they copyrighted it, not at the time it was first protected by copyright, and if they can assert that legally the there's a 95 year clock on Hurt starting in 1963.

    This isn't the first time Congress has fucked up royally.

    KFG

  13. Re:People do this already! by cballowe · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Where people go wrong is that it is just as illegal as it ever was to redistribute the content without permission, the only thing changing is that it is easier.

    Not entirely true... Up until (I believe) 1976, copyright law regulated the right to "publish," not "copy" -- there is a subtle but huge difference between the two.