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From David Oxenford's Broadcast Law Blog: "While recent press reports talk about the growth of Internet Radio and the increasing presence of terrestrial radio companies on the Net, the amount of the music royalties that will have to be paid by Internet radio companies for the 2006-2010 period remains unresolved.

"The trial phase of the proceeding to set the rates, held before the Copyright Royalty Board, is now completed, and the upcoming decision of the Board may have a profound impact on the economics of the Internet radio industry.

"Final briefs in the case were filed with the Board in December, and an oral argument was held on Thursday, December 21. With the completion of the argument, the  decision is now in the Board's hands, and the amount of the royalties for the use of the sound recordings will be decided by the Board on or before March 4.

"Our summary of the royalty rates that Internet radio stations should currently be paying can be found on our firm's website, here. As we make clear in that memo, the rates that are currently being paid expired at the end of 2005, so the rates that are adopted in the current proceeding will be retroactive to January 1, 2006."

Read the entire post at the Broadcast Law Blog.

From the Wall Street Journal: "After two years of hesitancy, the music industry is finally taking its first steps toward embracing podcasting...

"For a variety of reasons — including fear of piracy and the need to be paid — the major record labels and music publishers that control the rights to about 75% of the commercially released music in the U.S. have refused to make deals that would allow songs to be used in podcasts...

"That is starting to change. San Francisco-based Rock River Communications Inc. has struck some of the first deals to license major-label content for podcasts. Rock River... is creating a series of promotional podcasts on behalf of corporate clients including Daimler Chrysler AG and Ford Motor Co.

"'What we're doing with podcasts is taking the King Biscuit Flower Hour notion of sponsored content,' says Rock River President and Chief Executive Jeff Daniel...'It's a patronage model.'

"The other major hurdle facing podcasts has been the difficulty of figuring out how labels and artists should be paid. Many podcasts are free,... but the performance rights royalties that are collected from broadcasters don't apply to podcasts. Plus, given that many podcasters are do-it-yourselfers who give their content away, it isn't even clear where those royalties might come from...

"Ted Cohen, a digital-media strategist who for many years was an executive at EMI Group PLC, says that keeping up-and-coming artists 'protected' from use in podcasts has often backfired. 'We've protected them so well nobody knows they exist,' he quips.

Read the entire article at the Wall Street Journal.

From David Pogue's column in the New York Times: "Here... is my second annual Top 10 List — not of the greatest tech products of the year, but of the greatest ideas, individual features, that surfaced. It’s a little tip o’ the egg nog to the great thinkers whose ideas made it out of committee...

"A Record Radio Button: Samsung Helix is a regular music player, like an iPod (though smaller). But it’s also an XM satellite radio receiver.

"That’s already a good idea, but here’s the clincher: When you hear a song that you like on one of XM’s 70 themed, ad-free music channels, one button-press records that song from the beginning — even if you were a little late hitting record. In all, this gadget can hold about 25 hours’ worth of recorded radio.

"Long-suffering music fans could probably have predicted that XM would  be sued over this glorious idea, and, well, sure enough. Maybe what’s so great about this idea isn’t so much its ingenuity as its bravery.

"Music Beaming: The Zune, Microsoft’s new music player, does something amazingly well that its rival, the iPod, doesn’t do at all: It lets you beam songs or photos wirelessly to another Zune. It’s easy and fast, and it could be a great way to discover new music recommended by your friends.

"In practice, there’s more to the story. To avoid lynch mobs from the record companies, Microsoft designed the Zune so that beamed songs self-destruct after three plays or three days, whichever comes first — even, idiotically, your own recordings like college lectures and garage-band demos.

"The Zune, therefore, is that classic case: a killer idea diluted by a ham-handed execution."

Read the entire article at the New York Times Online.