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RIAA Protests Digital Radio
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."
The RIAA will try to outlaw singing. After all, they can't sell as many records if people can just reproduce the music with their voice!!! Bahahaha... ::tear::
Wake up RIAA, your customer base isn't happy with you. Stop doing idiotic crap to piss it off.
This is a Blunder by the RIAA. Now every broadcaster has more too worry about with Digital TV. Clearly, the broadcaster will have to kowtow to the **AA groups, and broadcaster do not like that one bit.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Or can digital radios already do this?
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
Does anyone still remember Massinova? They offered near CD quality streams, a great request system, etc etc...
And to thank them for their efforts, the RIAA sued and screwed em, and now that great Trance stream is no more.
Long live Massinova.
The RIAA is now seeking to eliminate ALL music in an attempt to make sure people don't steal it. Buy CDs while you can, they'll soon be outlawed! LPs and audio cassetes will also soon be collected and destroyed. The RIAA will begin raiding people's homes and taking away all audio equipment to be incinerated in giant ovens, never to be heard of again. During the burn-fest, Metallica will be paying a huge concert at $500 a head... blah blah blah, maybe I dragged this joke out for too long, but you'll have to excuse me...I just work up and this isn't the way I wanted to start my day.
I'm against picketing but I don't know how to show it.
Ever hear of taping a song off the radio. A lot of people do it.
Git off ma fair use before aye shoot ya.
Let the RIAA complain all they want-it will not get them anywhere anyway....Personally, I don't think the NAB would let this fly
There are other ways to get around this (casettes, radio to line-in, etc - and watch out, they'll want to ban obsolete hardware next) and the RIAA can really do little to stop it...Another RIAA attempt to stifle pirates, terrorists, and baby-killers, and innovation as well, all in the name of saving their bottom line
My MythTV HowTo
this posting might be of interest/relevance to this discussion.
:-)
Posted without a karma bonus so I'm not accused of karma.... well you know. I would have posted anonymously but I've alrealy posted anon 10 jokes today
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
Breaking news: the RIAA has appealled to the FCC to help regulate individuals from singing out loud.
An RIAA spokesman, I. M. Prick, has indicated "That people pose a very serious threat to our industry because they are able to reproduce music by vocalization. It appears that if other people hear individuals hear others singing songs illegaly, then they might remember the lyrics, tune and beat and thereby infringe on our copyrights."
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
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
I mean, pretty soon, the RIAA will have so many high tech snooping devices that we won't be able to even sing "DO RE MI F-- NO CARRIER
Last I heard, "HD Radio" was compressed using MPEG-4 AAC. I forget the bitrate, but it's likely around 128 Kbps. This is real good, but not CD-quality. Eric Weaver Chief Engineer, KFJC, 1993-1997
Why are the RIAA kicking up about this now? Wouldn't it have caused alot less hassle if they had mentioned their concerns to the FCC before the broadcasters spent wads of cash implementing digital radio schemes?
Seems to me like they are just trying to make enemies of everyone. But then again, this comes from the industry that has spent the last couple decades screwing over its customers, its clients,its business associates and other entities within the industry.
Wonder if Mrs Rosen went to the same business college as Bill and Daryl? ;)
She's built like a steak house, but she handles like a bistro....
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?
I was actually just discussing this with a few friends yesterday. I wasked them whether they thought streamripping music off of shoutcast stations using winamp and the streamripper plugin was illegal. We came to the conclusion that no, it wasn't because it's obviously the same thing as recording the radio with a cassette recorder. I also brought up the question of since it's obviously not illegal to share music with your friends in a car or something, what's so different about broadcasting it over the internet? You're sharing it with your friends, albiet 1,000 of them. Hey, if you had a big enough card you could do it there, why not the net? You can apply so many situations to these kind of questions, it just gets ugly. I think the RIAA needs to realize the path of destruction is paved by good intentions.
would it take for it to be hacked and used as a free music CD generator? :)
But if I lose my Digitally Imported, I will commit arson. And homicide. And pillaging. And public urination. Not necessarily in that order.
I know nothing
Earlier today I was listening to a CD with the window open. I have a bad feeling I've influenced the buying decisions of my next-door neighbor now.
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.
Sure it's from Russia, but for ~$1.00 a CD for 256 VBR MP3's... Who cares... If I don't like a song, I've thrown away $.07..
Tape Recorders. And I'd be more worried about the tape recorders than spicific software that can do the same thing, it's easier to record too, just a push of a button. And since you're willing to waste time with all that software configuration to get that 'specific' song, I'm sure you have enough time to get the song off the tape on to your computer..
honestly who runs the legal show for the RIAA? wait.. don't answer that..(a thousand monkeys on typewriters is what I'm abut to hear)
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.
CD quality? I'd be happy if my radio produced FM quality. The typical American broadcaster takes a nice, clean audio signal and then proceeds to mutilate it beyond recognition with a "modulation optimizer" before feeding it to the transmitter. These devices ensure that the transmitter is run at 100% modulation, or greater, all the time, in every audio band. The result is badly distorted audio without the slightest trace of dynamic range. If they will not broadcast a clean FM signal, why should we expect them to broadcast a clean digital signal?
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Remember Digital Audio Tape? Wanna go buy one?
Look at what the DMCA is doing to reverse engineering.
Look at what's being discussed to close the 'analog hole'.
Our nation is sacrificing it's technological competitiveness in the name of the entertainment industries. We have already sacrificed a LOT, though it's still reversible.
One of my Senators is Patrick Leahy, and maybe it's time for me to become a single-issue voter. His response to my last letter on this was not satisfactory, I need to try again - well before November.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Your system relies on two groups (consumers and artists) behaving well and selflessly. There's no evidence that either one will actually do so.
The comment about fears of "cherry-picking" songs probably tells more about the industry's real fears than they intended. Their biggest fear, I think, isn't simply about piracy (which can always be fought as a crime) but that listeners will become accustomed to listen to what they want, when they want. The existing structure of the music industry depends on using the radio and favorable product placement to boost certain artists; that's why those artists are willing to sign such unfavorable contracts. If the people in charge of the music industry lose control of popular taste, they're finished no matter what else happens.
They propose allowing you to record "entire broadcasts", not individual songs, for later playback. What do you bet that the next step will be disallowing fast-forward/commercial skip?
The RIAA Sucks.
You know that, I know that, Cowboyneal knows it, and pretty much everyone who frequents this site knows it. It's plain and simple, they are out to defend an old Cartel-like system, only because it continues to line their pockets with billions of dollars each year.
Unfortunetly, we are still sitting here reading yet another article of hundreds on how the RIAA sucks, and everyone is saying how outrageous it is, "their just going to destroy all music next!" is a common thread. I'm sure most of us haven't even read the story (shocker **insert a gasp here**). The problem is, what is this doing to fix the problem which is now un-deniable.
Sites like downhillbattle and all of its siblings propose large scale sweeping plans to topple the RIAA cartel. I am a muscian and the number one problem with these great plans of creating a larger "indie" scene, and having artists distribute their own songs over the internet, and getting artists to sign with Non-RIAA companies all require a public, both the artists and the consumers to be informed. As one person mentioned "The RIAA's consumer base is a bunch of stupid kids who buy...", it is not the geeks/nerds/"l33t" who support the RIAA, it is every person who goes to the store, any store and buys a CD. How innocent of a thing is this, yet it is all the RIAA needs to continue in its dominance, NO MATTER WHAT HATRED they are recieving from the few informed. They will not succumb to pressure, there is too much money involved. If we are able to take the message to the masses, and the masses hear it, understand it, accept it, and then chose to change their behaviors because of it, we can choke the RIAA off to the point where they are insignificant. And then trully there has been a solution, an end all end all. Music can then become about a communication between an artist and its audience again, and I'm sure no one can disagree that once to RIAA is removed, it is at least a step in the right direction.
What's another word for Thesaurus?
-Steve Wright
"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.
While the NAB doesn't exactly have the best interests of you and me in mind, the RIAA's desire to regulate every single intersection of music and commerce might cause the NAB to recognize that if they espouse the cause of less restrictive copyright, they could gain tremendous political and economic benefit.
Then again, the NAB might simply form some kind of cooperative scheme with the RIAA. But I don't think that's a foregone conclusion. Look at the good will IBM has generated by fighting SCO. Sure, IBM was forced into it by a suicidal Darl McBride, but others are likely watching how much goodwill IBM is garnering by their actions in the SCO/Linux struggle.
I know, profits are more powerful than goodwill, but goodwill can lead to profits. Maybe the NAB will grok this and take the fight to the RIAA.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
It's pretty simple. If it is audible to the human ear, it is audible to a Shure SM58 wired to a high-falootin' sound card - or for the low budget, a condensor mic on a portable tape recorder. It's simple physics, and to misquote Scotty, ye canna change the laws o' physics by passin' laws in the legislation.
This sig no verb.
I'm slightly confused. As far as I can work out, the RIAA wants to make it illegal to record (or spread) digital (/internet) radio.. well, since when has making something illegal stopped people doing it?
If someone wants a song, whether it be a download from irc or a rip from a radio station, they're generally just gonna get it, unless they're scared off by the gestapo tactics of these organisations.
The other thing is radio is public, so how can they sue you for having something that is essentially publicly available. Isn't that like sueing you for taping a tv show because you were out?
The (apparent) complaint is about spreading music instead of buying it, but if you take e.g. Radio 1 in the UK, it overplays so many songs to death (seriously, 6 or 7 times in the daytime) that you get sick and don't want to buy it anyway. The fact it plays it so much means you won't need to buy it, and the fact it's so overplayed means you'll get sick of it and won't want to.
I realise I've drifted off the main point there.
In all cases, the RIAA have once again spectacularly missed the point, if CDs were a reasonable price, more people would probably buy them. Not all of course, there will always be downloaders, but they're hardly gonna be swayed by a few legalities anyway so all in all the RIAA don't seem to have a clue what they're doing. Ironically, if they bothered to listen to people, they could (and we could) gain a lot more, which indicates that they aren't bothered about gain or money, they just love the power.
Get paid to search..It's geniune and
Just remember, replacing every existing digital radio and upgrading every digital station just to install DRM is not a problem, other things that the RIAA might also consider an option in the near future: Rounding up all non-DRM hardware by force (first digital then analog), Breaking down your door and beating you on the ground for using Kazaa, Raping your wife/sister/daughter because you 'raped an artist of their work', Getting the death sentence imposed for copyright violation (by giving the government some 'gifts'), and 'buying' the rights to major historical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Vivaldi, sampling their work or reusing melodies to create really crap gangsta rap albums and charging orchestras royalties for playing any of the original music.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
A few years ago, when I was living in ancient Sumeria, the Hunter-Gatherers Association of Mesopotamia were not too happy about those meddling farmers with their disruptive wheat fields, orchards and dairies. "Whose gonna pay a hunter to hunt down an ox or a gatherer to gather berries from the forest when everyone's just growing their own right ouside their huts and giving away the seeds?", they whined to the Chiefs.
Fortunately the Chiefs were wise in those days.
I've had XM for over a year and listen daily in the car. The reason I got XM was because I absolutely hate the junk that is heard in Clearchanel dominated market I live in.
Not once have I thought of recording anything from XM. Since most XM radios have line outputs for amplifiers, it would be easy to plug in a laptop and record to wav or even mp3 with no problem. This article put the idea in my head, courtesy of the RIAA. Good job guys.
I've bought quite a few CD's from "new" artists that I actually had a chance to hear on XM. XM definately helps the labels sell more CD's since Clearchanel doesn't play what the public wants to hear anymore.
The few decent artists that are played to death on broadcast radio don't seem worth the $15 to buy. Hell, I could hear the same song every time I turn on the radio anyway. But the ones that I hear on XM are new and aren't jammed down my throat. I WANT to buy the CD's. Nobody feels good ripping off the underdog artists, but we all write off the radio artists as the enemy, thus they are exploitable.
The RIAA seems to want control over which artists are popular more than they want money from listeners. In any other business, the stockholders would have voted out anyone who repeatedly made such bad decisions. It just makes no sense.
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
We're geeks, right? We're the sorcerers of the modern-day world. Without us, nothing happens and no-one works.
The RIAA can try this all they like, but if they succeed in getting the restrictions they want, we'll break them, we'll show others how to break them and we'll pirate the content out over the web just to make sure they learn that if they fuck with us they'll get hurt.
There's a lesson pending for the RIAA, and its this. Our rights as consumers are not up for renegotiation, and we don't want our rights to be protected (enforced) by expensive and unreliable DRM. RIAA, you can accept this, or you can pay up for the technology only to see us painlessely circumvent it. We will not be governed by you. That's not the way it works
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
They don't do it to prevent you from making copies of the music, they do it because it's a slicker way to DJ. It sounds better, and more importantly, it prevents dead air. Dead air's a real no-no if you're a radio DJ.
When asked for any additional comments, he would only say "Let them play wax - we'll show the customer who is king."
Sigs are bad for your health.
OT but Howard Stern gets dropped from Clear Channel because he is critical of Bush's War on Iraq.
100% wrong. Howard was gung-ho in favor of the war. He only went against Bush (and the war, if he has complained about that, but I haven't heard one way or the other) when he correctly blamed Bush for Clear Channel firing him.
That just simply wouldn't work as it would be effective suicide for the radio stations. What, precisely, would be left to play? fifty year old yodelling tapes? The consumers expect that stuff.
Listening == advertising == money for the radio station.
Eventually someone would come along who *was* willing to play RIAA stuff, and he'd be rich, because he'd be able to sell advertising again, because people would be listening -- unlike the guys with the yodelling tapes.
Unfortunately the great masses of people out there really do appear to want to hear the music, don't know/care about artist compensation, that other music is being made, nor would they care if it's not Brittany Spears.
It's like a lot of things in current North American culture -- some of us think it's just complete dreck (ie all 'reality' shows) but if the great shopping public tunes in, it stays on the air, because they can sell the advertising for more money.
Except for some college-radio type stuff, you can't exactly walk away from the RIAA's music and expect the public to listen. (At least here in North America, hopefully people outside of North America can get better access to non-RIAA stuff.)
Unfortunately when the RIAA (or MPAA) move to block technology like this, while it gets us riled up, the average person on the street doesn't know about it and might need a small bit of background information to understand the issue and why they should care.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
...when recording from an analog signal that was reconstructed from a digital one?
i.e. I could take my XM satellite radio (if I had one) such as the XM PCR Radio (as reviewed by another site other than the XM Radio one). I could plug the output into the input of my sound card... and capture the audio going in. The article I linked to above mentions the fringe benefit of being able to record from the XM PCR Radio using a third party program, thanks to the fact that the radio is designed to be plugged into the input of a computer sound card.
Of course there could be local noise which the analog signal would be susceptible to, and the sound card needs to be good enough to re-encode the decoded digital signal...
But really... can the degradation be that great... and how good are even the 'cheap and nasty' sound cards at capturing and re-coding audio?
Because as countless others have posted, people have been taping the radio for years. And right now, the technology exists (and is likely to continue to exist for some time yet) that allows us to circumvent any so-called digital protection by going through the analog chain.
Or does it really require a very high end PC with the best sound card around? Personally, I think not, because I think that technology has advanced far enough for even 'bog standard' PC equipment that is sold even in places like Wal-Mart have just about enough computer power and sound card hardware to create a CD-quality digital recording from a suitable analog input. But then I am not an audiophile, so I cannot state this as absolute fact... and would appreciate any clarification.
Thanks, Mark.
I truly wanted to write something insightful about this story. I wanted to make a logical balanced statement about why the RIAA is simply wrong and will eventually die due to their own greed. I wanted to write something that would illuminate and entertain and was suitable for all age groups to read.
Unfortunately I couldn't do that. Every time I now think about the RIAA and whatever approach they are currently trying to keep their grip on the fat cash they make screwing over the artist, customer, and anyone else who gets in the way I can only ever think of two words.
"Fuck Them"
So that's my post. Don't be too hard on me mods because I tried. Maybe I've seen one too many RIAA stories or something but those four letters just draw one response from me at this point and that was it.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
So the industry gets caught -- yet again! -- with their hand in the cookie jar, cooking their own damn charts by having big hits played in the middle of the night shift as "ads" to avoid soiling themselves with the 'payola' scarlet letter. Now, their lobby groups wants to prevent people from 'cherry-picking' tunes off super-snazzy digital radio?
WTF?
If it's an open secret that most music now is shit and every album is designed to have one, maybe two, big hit(s) to draw in the suckers, what's the problem? Doesn't this solve the industries lagging money woes and distribution issues? They simply drop free (ad-driven) radio as a medium and move exclusively to digital (subscription) radio, demand a huge jack in price and a big 'ole piece o' the pie.
No fuss, no muss. The broadcast flags become unnecessary (in the beginning at least), as they^H^H^H^H^H the artists are being paid for their 'labors'.
Personally, with the advent of studios in a box and whatnot, I'd think more performers would forego big studios altogether, hit the road and sell CDs out the backs of their cars. A groundswell starts and you use the Internet for world-wide distribution outside the usual chains. That is, of course, assuming it really is still 'all about the music' and not mere, grubby cash and swishy lifestyle perks.
Odd that...
Kingstrum
At best, we're taking about 96kbps audio. However, many stations (e.g., NPR) are pursuing dual-program configurations in which the 'main' audio would be transmitted at only 64kbps.
The RIAA is afraid of us recording 96 (or likely, 64) kbps (highly compressed) audio. With a good signal at a stationary location, some would argue that current FM sounds as good (if not better) than the compressed version. (At the end of the day, it's a subjective issue.) It would seem the RIAA is attempting to make radio more restrictive than it currently is.
Your monitor is staring at you.