BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
Faced with growing friction over the creation of a controversial new royalty for broadcasters, NAB President/CEO David Rehr (pictured right) has asked Congress to hold additional hearings to explore how record labels compensate artists.

In his letter to House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Chairman Howard Berman and Ranking Member Howard Coble, Rehr suggests that a hearing that includes representatives from the RIAA and the four major record labels "would allow members of the Subcommittee to explore more thoroughly the typical business practices of the recording industry."

"If the goal is to improve the circumstances of performers and build the cadre of music into the future," said Rehr, "the relationship between performers and record labels also bears examination."

Chairman Berman recently announced his plans to introduce legislation this month [RAIN coverage here] that would reverse broadcasters' longstanding exemption from paying copyright owners a royalty when their recorded works are played on air.

Several broadcast groups, including the NAB, have already begun to fight the imposition of what Rehr has called a "performance tax" on radio stations.

The Free Radio Alliance, one group that opposes the implementation of such a royalty, argues that "the recording industry has publicly stated that it has benefited from more than 70 years of free promotion on radio."

To mark the official launch of the Free Radio Alliance, the group is holding a picnic on Capitol Hill next Wednesday, October 10 at 2 p.m. More information is available at the Free Radio Alliance website.

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From Computerworld: "It's the ideal coffee shop toy for music lovers: A wireless media player that connects directly to an online music service. Besides the usual playback capabilities, the device's built-in Wi-Fi enables you to play Internet radio. If you hear a song you like, you can press a button to download it, the album the track is from or a mix of similar songs.

"Wireless devices that integrate seamlessly with Web services are starting to be available. Earlier this year, SanDisk Corp. released its Wi-Fi-enabled Sansa Connect media player, which connects to the Yahoo Music subscription service. More recently, Apple Inc. released the iPod Touch, which connects to its iTunes store...

"Analysts believe we are close to a harmonic convergence of sorts in terms of small devices that interact with specific Web-based applications and services. In particular, widespread wireless access is becoming available via cellular 3G, Wi-Fi and, soon, mobile WiMax. In addition, processors for small devices are becoming more powerful, and displays are becoming more viewable...

For conumers, simplicity sells
"For consumers... the simplicity of Web service-centric devices is attractive, (Derek) Kerton (an analyst at Kerton Group, a telecommunications consulting firm) said...

"In particular, these devices can be simple to use because they don't require knowledge of the Internet or even of the Web service to which they connect. For instance... on the Sansa Connect... if you want to get music from the Yahoo Music service, you simply select 'Get More Music.' The device then automatically connects via a Wi-Fi network...

"Forrester Research Inc. analyst James McQuivey said people will eventually expect this sort of seamless connectivity to Web services...

Tech, business challenges ahead
"'The most obvious challenges are screen real estate and the lack of a full keyboard,' Yahoo's (David) Mowrey (director of product management at Yahoo Inc.) said. 'Generally, data input is a real challenge.'..

"Another complicating factor is the variety of widely used connection methods. Do you build the device for Wi-Fi, which is fast but not ubiquitous, or for 3G, which is more ubiquitous but not as fast? A device... that isn't always connected would need more ability to download and store more information than a device that is always connected.

"Ideally, devices could connect to all types of networks, but that won't happen for a while, Forrester's McQuivey said...

"The final challenge relates to how service providers price mobile access. Specifically, 3G access covers large areas, but the way cellular operators charge for it — typically a flat rate of $60 a month — discourages its use in small, narrowly focused devices, Kerton said...

"Kerton said, 'We need [cellular] carriers to start offering different rate and service packages. Instead of AT&T charging $60 a month, they could flip it around and go to a company like [Global Positioning System vendor] Garmin, and that company could resell the minutes to their customers. As a consumer, let me pay a buck or two a month for some devices, and then I'll pay [AT&T] $40 a month to connect my laptop.'..

"Five years" away
"'We're still in the early stages,' Kerton said. 'The Sansa Connect works well, and the iPod [Touch] works well, but we'll see a lot of devices that don't work so well. And we need carriers to offer different rates and service packages. But we'll hiccup through the process, and in five years, we'll be walking around in a cloud, and there will be bits and bytes available anytime you want.'"

Read this entire article from Computerworld here.

From the Digital Media Wire: "Fusa Capital... recently launched its IHeard.com free Internet radio search engine.

"The search service indexes thousands of both terrestrial station simulcasts and Internet-only radio streams, and complements Fusa's existing search sites devoted to video, breaking news and podcasts."

Read the entire article at the Digital Media Wire.

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