Radio Royalty Legislation Described As 'RIAA Bailout'

An anonymous reader tips an article at TechDirt about draft legislation from Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) that would dramatically increase the music royalty fees for cable and satellite radio to put them at the same level as internet radio streaming. TechDirt calls this the 'RIAA Bailout Act of 2012' and says the RIAA has been pursuing similar legislation to increase royalty rates for terrestrial radio as well. "As it stands now, the rates are so damaging that Pandora — the top player in the space — has made it clear it may never be profitable. Yes, never. Nadler's bill would effectively make sure that no one else in that market would be profitable either. The end result? Many of these services don't exist or never get started. That would actually mean fewer services, fewer listeners and lower royalties. It's almost as if he has no concept of price elasticity. Lower prices can create higher total income. Also, the idea that any particular Congressional Rep. should be (effectively) determining what the "fair" price is for anything is, well, horrifying. "

Comments

Re:Don't Understand

[Samalie]

Actually, I'd say it is closer to...the RIAA would rather destroy the entire recording industry than modify their business model from that which made them all filthy rich until the last decade or so.

They've fucking lost it. They have absolutly no comprehension or understanding that they don't mean shit anymore. Nobody NEEDS the RIAA or the major labels anymore. Anyone with a few thousand can create a damned good recording studio, cut an album, release it online independently (and to streaming sites), thereby cutting the RIAA entirely out of the equation.

But at the heart, you are correct...the RIAA says a song has a value of x. The world says the same song has a value of x/50. THe RIAA has decided that if they can't get x, they don't want anything.

Re:Don't Understand

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. There's a lot of companies like that. The RIAA, MPAA, Harmony Gold, etc don't like customers, they just want to sue people. It helps that they plan on making laws to force you to pay anyway, regardless of whether or not you listen to music

Experiment

[carrier lost]

It would be fascinating if someone were to start an IndieGoGo fundraiser to "Buy a Senator"

Buy a senator and have him introduce a bill - something good, like forcing the cablecos to share their lines with competitors at cost, or legalizing marijuana for adults.

How much money would it take? $5 million? $10M, $20M before a senator publicly announces, "Okay, I'll do it. What law do you want introduced and give the cash to my campaign manager so he can get to work on spinning this"