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BY PAUL MALONEY
Noting how "the proposed notice and recordkeeping provisions
are contentious,"
the U.S. Copyright Office
has announced on
Friday they will conduct a public roundtable discussion on issues
involving recordkeeping and reporting for webcasting.
The meeting will be Friday May 10 in Washington DC. Due to
seating limitations, those wishing to participate or attend must
submit a request to the Copyright Office no later than close of
business Monday May 6 (see details below). No previous written comment
is required to attend, i.e. whether you filed a comment on the rulemaking
with the Copyright Office, you may attend the roundtable.
The release says the Copyright Office is "especially
interested in the views of small businesses engaged in webcasting
as well as individuals and small businesses who are copyright owners
of sound recordings, and in details relating to the benefits, costs
and burdens associated" with the proposed recordkeeping rules.
The release made clear that the purpose of this discussion
is for the Copyright Office to get a clearer picture of the issues
specifically involving the recordkeeping rulemaking, and "not
to any other issue that may be part of a different proceeding..."
that is, actual royalty rates.
From the release: "The roundtable discussion will
take place in LM620 (Dining Room A), James Madison Memorial
Building, First and Independence Avenue, SE, Washington DC.
"Requests to participate or attend must be made
by e-mail to 114roundtable@loc.gov
or by fax to (202) 252-3423. Questions about the meeting or
the filing of such requests for participation or attendance
should be addressed to either William J. Roberts Jr., or Susan
N. Grimes at Telephone (202)707-8380 or Telefax (202) 252-3423...
"Those interested in participating in the roundtable
must notify the Office in a written request sent by fax or e-mail
to the addresses given above and this request must contain the
following elements: (1) the name of the person desiring to participate,
(2) the organization or organizations represented by that person,
if any: (3) contact information (address, telephone, fax, and
e-mail); and (4) information on the specific focus or intent
of the participant (or his or her organization) and any questions
or issues the participant would like to raise. Submission
of such requests by regular mail will not be effective."
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BY PAUL MALONEY
The RIAA seems to have stepped back from their demand for
information on those who listen to webcasts containing
copyrighted material. According to a statement on the record industry
group's website, "RIAA has simplified its proposal by dropping
the listener log, which resulted in considerable confusion and criticism."
According to the Copyright Office's "Notice of Recordkeeping,"
a proposed rule would require webcasters to supply to copyright
owners information such as the date and time the user logged in
and out of the stream, the country and time zone of the listener,
and a "unique user identifier" (see RAIN story
here).
Webcasters and consumer advocates responded with a hailstorm
of criticism, citing objections based on technological infeasibility
and privacy issues. Initial responses to the rulemaking were due
to the
Copyright Office a week ago Friday. Comments to those replies, which
-- including those from the RIAA -- can be viewed here,
are due April 26.
The statement is from Steven Marks,
senior VP/Business and Legal Affairs with the RIAA, and can be seen
here.
Marks says, "The RIAA has heard the complaints raised by webcasters
and has responded by proposing recordkeeping regulations that take
into account many of the webcasters' concerns...We look forward
to working with webcasters on having these reasonable regulations
adopted so that record labels and artists can begin receiving royalties."
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From AdAge: "With America Online's fortunes in decline,
the AOL Time Warner unit's new president for Interactive Services
will have to tune up in a hurry to help develop and monitize digital
music packages.
"Jimmy de Castro, 47...will oversee AOL, develop business
models for new digital music services and lead ad sales efforts...
"The media giant is hoping Mr. de Castro, with his expertise
in music and radio ad sales, can develop and market subscription-based
digital music services, similar to MusicNet,
a $9.95-a-month service available to AOL Time Warner's broadband
members...
"AOL Music has ramped up quickly in the past year, offering
exclusive features such as as 'Music Firsts,' which features downloadable
music and videos of emerging artists
tied to a sponsoring marketer. Other programs include 'Artist of
the Month' and 'First Listen,' a venue for debuts. But none of these
services, currently free for AOL's 34 million customers, have been
offered on a paid-subscription model.
"Mr. de Castro envisions creating a subscription model
whereby consumers can create their own listening packages. 'I am
definitely going to be involved in the discussion about getting
the product right first and then monitizing it,' he said."
Read this entire article at AdAge.com here.
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