The RIAA has published on its website a short position piece calling CARP scrutiny "an intense misinformation and propaganda campaign," with the objective of scaring noncommercial webcasters into thinking their operations will be shut down by CARP rates.

Possibly in response to the growing furor of concerned webcasters, listeners, journalists, and legislators, the essay -- called "The REAL facts behind the CARP Webcasting CARP: What’s All The Fuss About?" -- defends the CARP webcasting royalty determination, and contends that the RIAA supports webcasters and wishes for the survival of the industry. In fact, the article makes the statement that the CARP rates will "enable webcasters to thrive."

Probably the most pointed allegation made in the essay is that the arithmetic shown to support arguments against CARP in various articles is erroneous. The RIAA claims the calculations often shown suppose "that every listener who ever logs into a given noncommercial webcast remains logged into the site 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year," and are therefore faulty. The RIAA also contends that many webcasters who think CARP will shut them down need only pay the minimum $500 annual fee.

The piece is excerpted below, or read the entire document here:

From RIAA.org: "In recent weeks, the CARP rates have become the subject of an intense misinformation and propaganda campaign (so called 'grassroots' but really ginned up by sophisticated lobbyists in D.C.) -- waged through the news media, emails to Capitol Hill and numerous Internet sites. The goal is to scare non-commercial webcasters – including college radio stations and so-called hobbyists – and their members of Congress into thinking that the CARP rates are going to drive noncommercial webcasters out of business...

"Contrary to what has been reported in the news media and circulated on the Internet, the RIAA and its member companies want ALL webcasters, large and small, to succeed.

"Unlike terrestrial broadcasters, webcasters – particularly noncommercial webcasters – provide a much-needed outlet for musical diversity (i.e., by providing 'airplay' for new artists, artists with a niche following and artists who play unusual genres of music).

"Webcasting also represents an important and growing source of revenue for record labels, as well as for artists and performers.

"The CARP rates will enable webcasters to thrive.

"Contrary to press reports, the evidence strongly suggests that many of the noncommercial webcasters who think the CARP rates will put them out of business will actually only be required to pay the minimum (and minimal) annual fee of $500.

"How could our royalty calculations differ so dramatically from the claims of webcasters? Noncommercial webcasters (like a hobbyist) are the targets of a well-orchestrated misinformation campaign. Most of the fee projections reported in the news media make the erroneous assumption that every listener who ever logs into a given noncommercial webcast remains logged into the site 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. This assumes that no one ever logs off and listeners only visit that particular site. While no one can say for sure what the actual listener’s time is, the notion that they stayed logged on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is preposterous and the subject of gross exaggerations...

"We would welcome the opportunity to negotiate a solution.

"Musicians and artists should not be forced to subsidize the profit margin of webcasters like MTV, Microsoft, AOL TimeWarner and others."

Read the entire piece here.

...

... We're not sure (nor does the RIAA demonstrate) how CARP will actually "enable webcasters to thrive." We do believe however that it's the RIAA who is trying to use "misinformation" to obfuscate the facts. The RIAA's argument here is based upon rates for "noncommercial" webcasters, or "hobbyists." Yes, it is true that noncommercial services will pay a lower rate (0.02 cents per performance, plus 9% for ephemeral charges). But most of the anti-CARP arguments we've seen plead that the determination will crush the webcasting business, not "hobbyists." Certainly there are many webcasters who aren't running ads at this time -- but that doesn't mean they don't intend to, or don't hope to develop their service into a profitable business. The "hobbyist" argument is a red herring. The webcasters who've become visible in crying out against CARP, as far as we know, are businesspeople. Nonetheless, a little math shows that a noncommercial webcasters would have to have an average audience of less than 18 people to qualify for the $500 minimum. Remember, "performances" on which the royalty rate is based is songs multiplied by listeners. If a webcaster averages 15 songs per hour, they'll play about 131,400 songs per year. Multiply that by an average audience size of 18 to determine the total "performances" for the year -- in this case 2,365,200. Multiply the "performances" total by the $0.0002 royalty rate (notice we converted to dollars here), to yield a song royalty rate of $473.04. Add in the 9% additional ephemeral fee ($42.57) and oops...we're more than $15 over the $500 minimum fee! So, if a "hobbyist" averages 18 or more listeners over the course of a year, they will pay more than the $500 minimum fee. A quick look to Shoutcast will show that, yes, "many" "hobbyists" have less than 18 listeners at any given time. But "many" in fact have more..."many" more in some cases. Notice the RIAA did not demonstrate their point with hard numbers. And, again, the argument for CARP is for the webcasting businesses. Using the math above, to be eligible for the $500 minimum webcasting fee, a commercial webcaster could average no more than 2.5 listeners! That's not even to mention the fact that, if the RIAA has its way, the minimum fee for commercial webcasters will be raised to $5000! Another point that should be made concerns the RIAA's point that the calculations used by those arguing against CARP assume webcasters royalty estimates are based on "total" audience sizes, and not "average." But, the math used in RAIN for these purposes always assumes an "average." If a webcaster averages 1000 listeners, that in fact may mean the actual number of listeners at any given moment may be well below or well above that point. If we say, a Chicago commuter train averages 400 riders, the RIAA might say, "How can 400 people be riding the train non-stop? They'd have to get off to eat, work, and use the bathroom!" One final note: The RIAA, regarding the time spent listening for audience members, says, "While no one can say for sure what the actual listener’s time is..." Really? Won't webcasters be obligated to produce this information for copyright owners by the terms of the Copyright Office "Recordkeeping" mandate -- which was by all accounts developed by following the RIAA's requests? RAIN readers are encouraged to critique the calculations above. -- PM

...

... As for me, I take personal affront to the statement "In recent weeks, the CARP rates have become the subject of an intense misinformation and propaganda campaign (so called 'grassroots' but really ginned up by sophisticated lobbyists in D.C.)." That's a lie! The SaveInternetRadio.org campaign reflects the efforts of myself, Paul, and small group of webcasters including Bill Goldsmith, Dave Landis, Jim & Wanda Atikinson, Michael Roe, and Kevin Shively (among others). We have gotten no 'ginning up' from the professional lobbyists whatsoever. (The only possible exception I know of is that Lightningcast has its own fax-your-Congressman campaign running, which I believe DiMA's Jon Potter advised on.) The vast majority of what the RIAA seems to be worried about, I believe, consists of the press coverage and e-mail-your-Congressman efforts that come are associated in some way with SaveInternetRadio.org and are genuinely grass-roots efforts. -- KH ...

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From CNet News.com: "Internet and digital TV streaming technology is poised to take center stage at events held during the National Association of Broadcasters 2002 conference, which opens [today] in Las Vegas.

"The 79th annual conference, which highlights the convergence of Internet, cable, satellite and traditional broadcasting, will showcase a variety of emerging technologies for digital set-top boxes, video on demand, personal video recorders, and Internet audio and video streaming...

"Highlights of the conference include a new-media opening keynote speech Monday by Marc Andreessen, co-founder and chairman of Loudcloud and founder of Netscape Communications. Richard Parsons, AOL Time Warner co-chief operating officer and soon-to-be chief executive, will also deliver a keynote address at the opening ceremony...

"Microsoft will be trying to garner interest for its next-generation Windows Media platform, code-named 'Corona.'"

Read the entire article in CNet here.

Video and audio from conference panels is being streamed at TVWorldWide.com.