NAB, RIAA May Seek Mandate For FM Radios In Mobile Devices

Trintech writes with this quote from an article at Ars Technica: "Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics. The Consumer Electronics Association, whose members build the devices that would be affected by such a directive, is incandescent with rage. 'The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity,' thundered CEA president Gary Shapiro. Such a move is 'not in our national interest.' 'Rather than adapt to the digital marketplace, NAB and RIAA act like buggy-whip industries that refuse to innovate and seek to impose penalties on those that do.' But the music and radio industries say it's a consumer-focused proposition, one that would provide 'more music choices.'"

Comments

okay then

[Anonymous Coward]

But the music and radio industries say it's a consumer-focused proposition, one that would provide 'more music choices.'

Alright. Then they should have NO problem with the mandate also including provisions for receiving Pandora, LastFM, Grooveshark, etc on all portable electronic devices. And they should be the one's footing the bill to do so. After all, that would be a "consumer-focused proposition" that "provides more music choices", right?

radio? really!?

[Anonymous Coward]

oh!

that reminds me, my phone actually already has a radio tuner... how'd i forget that?

oh right, 20 gigs of my personal music collection.

Re:radio? really!?

[Sunshinerat]

We should all read between the lines. It is not about mandating an FM receiver in each phone, it is about adding broadcasting fees to each phone bill.

Re:Beyond Stupid!!!!!

[mlts]

Don't forget the FM radio arena has been abandoned by virtually everyone. You might hear a radio blasting at a construction site because it is cheaper than someone attaching a MP3 player, but that essentially is it.

15 years ago, FM radio was different. New bands played all the time.

Now, FM radio is not worth the time of day. "Rock" stations are in a time warp and are still playing Blind Melon, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana as the absolute latest music they bother to listen to. You might catch a 1 hour show at midnight on a Friday that has recent music, but that is essentially it. To boot, it is the same songs, about 100-400 that play over and over.

This is also an issue with other stations, be it hip-hop, country, Tejano, or one's genre of choice -- the vibrancy that radio used to have about 15-20 years ago is lost. People don't click on a FM radio station to hear new stuff, they go to last.fm or Pandora.

Re:Consumer Focus or Consumer Manipulation?

[Pojut]

The RIAA is just pissed of because it's finally realizing how useless they are at this point.

You no longer need a multi-million dollar studio to produce professional-sounding audio, nor do you need widespread advertising in "traditional" ways to get popular. $10,000 will buy you all the instruments, equipment, and distribution you need. Depending on your music, it likely will require even less than that.

Vote Pirate

[tepples]

But at least I can vote and try to get others to vote the corrupt scumbags out of office

In the United States, neither the Republican platform nor the Democratic platform includes rolling back the entertainment industry land-grabs of the 105th Congress. All three bills I'm thinking of (NET Act, Bono Act, DMCA) passed both houses by a voice vote. I'll believe you once a Pirate gets elected to Congress.

I actually think there is room for a real grassroots movement (not promoted by an advertising agency on behalf of people with vested interests).

They tried that in 2008 with Ron Paul. But at the primary debates, Paul couldn't a word in edgewise because the MPAA controls the TV news media.

Re:Consumer Focus or Consumer Manipulation?

[hairyfeet]

But how much of that "difficulty" is because the cartels are allowed to engage in monopolistic behavior by the government? I was playing in a college band in the late 90s that was quite popular across a couple of states. Because I was the phone number listed on the contact sheet I got no less than a half a dozen calls from DJs with variations on this theme "Hey, could you tell your fans not to call us? It doesn't matter that we like the band, or even the fact we have showed up and broadcast you guys live before, we are not allowed to play a SINGLE song not on the corporate approved list. So could you please tell them to stop calling?".

And if anything the record companies, thanks to them owning the gateways to avenues like radio, have become more evil than ever. We were offered contracts twice and told them where they could put them, because the contracts you will be offered nowadays gives you NOTHING for your digital rights, gives them the rights to ALL songs recorded, basically it is the most blatant one sided contract you've ever seen and you'd have to be an idiot to sign it. One of the bands we toured with thought we were nuts and signed, they ended up breaking up and being unable to work with each other simply so they could get out of their contract. The record company didn't even pay for a decent studio or new instruments but by the time they got done with their "Hollywood Accounting" the band owed something like 400k, when they didn't even get 10k upfront.

So yeah, it means longer hours and a little more hard work to stay indie, but it is a hell of a lot better than the alternative. for every band you see on MTV the record companies have stolen the work of and ripped off another 100 bands and left them broke without even the rights to play the songs they wrote. No thanks.