BY DANIEL MCSWAIN in Washington, DC
Negotiations between webcasters and the recording industry have seen "some progress," but Congressional pressure to continue talks between the parties will persist until other aspects of the CRB decision are addressed, according to one of the original Senate cosponsors of the Internet Radio Equality Act.

The comments came from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) in a keynote address at this morning's Future of Music Policy Summit in Washington D.C.

"At the end of August, we got some progress in terms of limiting these per channel fees," Sen. Wyden said. "If you didn't get the caps on those initial fees, you would be clobbering the little guy. We have a little way to go, but it's some progress."

Royalty standard is the heart of the problem
Despite the cap on the fees, the Senator argued that numerous other issues, some of them tied to the process by which the CRB decision was determined, continue to face webcasters as they seek to resolve the contentious royalty rate crisis.

"Even if you get a royalty agreement that covers the minimum fee, you still need the bipartisan legislation. You have to change the royalty standard. That was really the mistake that led to all of this," the Senator said.

When other royalty rates for digital use are settled by arbitration, judges follow what is called the 801(b)(1) standard, which guides the decision-making process to ensure fairness, that the availability of copyright works to the public is maximized, and to minimize disruption of the industry in question. At the music industry's request, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act replaced 801(b)(1) for webcast royalty arbitration with a new standard called "willing buyer / willing seller."This makes webcast royalty arbitration unique (both under the current Copyright Royalty Board system and the replaced Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, or "CARP" regime) in that, by law, the standard of fairness is removed -- arbitrators now simply look to replicate what a "willing buyer" and a "willing seller" might agree to in a hypothetical market. The IREA would change the standard to 801(b)(1). (For more detail on this, see Kurt Hanson's essay "Copyright Law and the CRB: What went wrong?" in RAIN here, especially the sections titled 'Enter Digital' and 'Enter the DMCA.')

Sen. Wyden [right] continued, "Unless you get the guts of [the IREA] enacted into the law, Internet radio may not die, but it is sure going to be hurt. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch. We're going to stay at this until we get it done."

In his address, the Senator touched on a number of his other tech legislation initiatives, most notably the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, and the Internet Tax Freedom Act. He also expressed his belief that the U.S. Senate is increasingly embracing high-tech issues and legislation.

Still, the Senator returned numerous times to his involvement with the IREA and the fight to keep webcasters in operation.

"I think everybody was just stunned by the breadth of the CRB decision," Sen. Wyden said. "This was a creature of the United States Congress. It would have been devastating if it was put into effect."

RAIN is brought to you today by:

Jones TM, based in Dallas, has been around since the 1960s and is the world's leading creator and provider of products and services for the broadcast industry. Jones TM creates, produces, and distributes music-based products for broadcasters, webcasters and other media. Programming services include HitDisc and GoldDisc. Jones also has a wide range of production & imaging libraries like Steam, Short Bus Radio, Audio Architecture, and Imagio; plus commercial jingles and IDs, prep services, the Daily Service, and more. Visit www.JonesTM.com or call 972-406-6800 for more information.

From Rob Pegoraro's "Faster Forward" blog at WashingtonPost.com: "I spent most of Monday in an auditorium at George Washington University, attending the Future of Music Coalition's annual policy summit. This gathering is meant to give musicians -- as opposed to the recording industry at large -- a change to mull over the state of the business...

"Some highlights from yesterday's sessions:

"How unbalanced is radio these days? At a panel discussion early in the afternoon, Rich Bengloff, president of the American Association of Independent Music, cited figures gathered by the performance-rights organization SoundExchange: In 2006, 37% of the songs played on 'non-terrestrial' radio -- essentially, satellite and Internet -- came from independent artists. On AM and FM, the figure was below 10%, Bengloff said...

"I've written before about how effective Internet radio can be at helping listeners find new music -- and how threatened Internet broadcasters are by the steep royalty payments current laws require them to make to musicians. Both sides of that debate surfaced at a discussion late in the afternoon. Everybody agreed on the merits of compensating musicians for the public use of their work -- not just on the Web and satellite radio, but on AM and FM too.

"But they disagreed sharply on whether the current system did the job satisfactorily. To judge from the questions directed at SoundExchange executive director John Simson [above, left], that organization has burned up a lot of credibility by pushing so consistently for high royalty rates for Webcast radio...

"Marybeth Peters [right], the Library of Congress's Reporter of Copyrights since 1994, said, 'Today, copyright law reads like the tax code, and there are sections that are incomprehensible to most people and difficult to me.' Later... Peters expressed her approval of one of the laws that make digital copyright such a mess -- the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. She also admitted that she doesn't own a home computer or DVD player."

Read (and comment on) Pegoraro's blog online here.

From an RAB press release: "The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), in conjunction with Advertising Week in NY, presents WADV Radio, a streaming Radio station serving the advertising community and dedicated to Advertising Week 2007.

"Beginning with a special preview on Friday, September 21st, followed by a full launch on Monday, September 24th and running through Friday, September 28th, WADV will stream from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm ET...

“'WADV Radio will be an informative, entertaining, and interactive experience for the Advertising Week community,' explained Jeff Haley, President and Chief Executive Officer, RAB. 'Like any Radio station in America, WADV will be lifestyle-targeted, focused on the interests and tastes of its listening audience, easy, and fun.'

"Streamed content will be available for download from the WADV microsite, allowing attendees even more flexibility with their time and schedules.

"'The RAB has taken a huge leap and has seamlessly transformed traditional media into new media,' observed Matt Scheckner, Executive Director, Advertising Week. 'WADV Radio delivers the best of advertising to owners of desktops, laptops and handhelds . . . On demand . . . And extends the life of our content beyond the four walls where the sessions and events are held.'

"Special programming from CBS RADIO’s New York stations, customized to mirror their individual formats, will include live and recorded features from WCBS-FM, 1010 WINS, WFAN, Fresh 102.7, WCBS-AM, and K-ROCK..."

Read the entire press release online here.

Advertisement