Internet Radio
Michael A. Morgan
handuma at handuma.com
Mon Sep 30 16:40:57 CDT 2002
--Boundary_(ID_5bRsW+ef/cTItwCsAS3hlA)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
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David,
I received an email (4/26/02) from Scot Hacker, author of MP3
the Definitive Guide, with a call to action. Scott admonishes,
"...this is an extremely volatile time for Internet radio - congress
is going to kill it dead. It's extremely important that you write or
call your congress person as soon as possible, before it's too late.
See
http://www.saveinternetradio.org/ and tell your friends." Tuesday
Oct. 2 is the deadline. See the Post Script below.
You'll find a free version of RealPlayer 8 at
http://forms.real.com/real/player/player.html?dc=101930929&lang=en&loc
=us&src=020717realhome_mac http://www.real.com. Unix is supported,
here's a list of options.
Linux/Alpha (Debian)
Linux/Alpha (Red Hat 6.2)
Linux/Sparc (Red Hat 6.2)
Linux/PPC 2000
Irix 6.5
Irix 6.3
AIX 4.2
AIX 4.3
Solaris 2.6 (Sparc)
Solaris 7 (Sparc)
Linux 2.x (libc6 i386)
Linux 2.x (libc6 i386) RPM
hp-ux 11
Unixware 7 (i386)
BUT, they also say,
"NOTICE: RealNetworks has provided this software at the request of
customers in the UNIX community. In addition, RealNetworks does not
guarantee functionality, maintenance, upgrades, fixes, or suitability
for any purpose.
This software is not formally supported by RealNetworks. However, a
special public forum has been provided by RealNetworks to give users
of these products a place to share their thoughts and experiences. We
encourage you to use this forum for this purpose.
http://realforum.real.com/cgi-bin/unixplayer/wwwthreads.pl. " Hope
this helps.
Michael
handuma.com
Before a diamond shows it's brilliance and prismatic colors it has to
stand a good deal of cutting and smoothing. Anonymouns
P.S. State Member DC Phone District Phone E-Mail
MO Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R) 202-224-5721 573-634-2488
kit_bond at bond.senate.gov
MO Sen. Jean Carnahan (D) 202-224-6154 314-436-3416
senator_carnahan at carnahan.senate.gov
MO Karen McCarthy (D-05) 202-225-4535 816-842-4545
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Dear _______________:
I am writing you to express my strong fear that the US Copyright
Office may be about to make a decision in the next few weeks that
will bankrupt and effectively destroy the Internet radio industry.
Let me begin by clarifying that this issue is not about Napster -- in
fact, quite the opposite. Internet radio is a perfectly legal new
medium that offers wonderful benefits for musicians and record
companies as well as for consumers. (Record company revenues from CD
sales may well be at risk in this "digital millennium," but that's
due to the phenomena of MP3 file sharing and CD burning, not due to
Internet radio.)
As required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), however,
the Copyright Office is obligated to set a "sound recordings
performance royalty" rate for Internet radio. But the Copyright
Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) that was convened last summer has
reached a conclusion that is probably far more draconian than
anything Congress intended.
For most Webcasters, the critical issues in front of the Librarian of
Congress are:
(#1) The CARP arbitrators set a royalty rate far higher than the rate
for composers' royalties (based almost exclusively on a single deal
during the height of the dotcom craze between Yahoo! and the RIAA).
(#2) The CARP arbitrators recommended a fixed price per song streamed
per listener, rejecting a alternative "percentage of gross revenues"
royalty concept that both sides had previously been willing to
accept, and
(#3) The Copyright Office has proposed recordkeeping and reporting
requirements, precisely as requested by the RIAA, that are wildly
beyond the abilities of most webcasters to fulfill.
Regarding the first two points above: The RIAA initially asked
webcasters for a royalty of 15% of gross revenues. Webcasters
initially countered by offering approximately 3% of gross revenues,
in the range of the royalty they pay to composers. They could not
come to terms, so the two sides went to arbitration in front of the
CARP. The CARP's recommendation to the Copyright Office, however, is
not a percentage of gross revenues at all, but rather a price per
song per listener -- at a price that, even if webcasters could
eventually achieve the same advertising success that broadcasters
have achieved, would work out to a royalty rate of 20% of gross
revenues! (That's a third more than the RIAA asked for!) Worse yet,
in the current advertising environment, the CARP's proposed rate
equates to a royalty rate closer to 200% to 300% of gross revenues!
Worse yet again, the royalties are retroactive to October 1998. For a
popular independent webcaster that has had, say, an average audience
of 1,000 listeners (fewer than a single small-market broadcast radio
station) for the past three years, the bill for retroactive royalties
would be $525,600, or a retroactive royalty rate of 500% to 1000% of
their gross revenues to date.
It's hard to imagine that this is what Congress had in mind when it
passed the DMCA.
In conclusion, if the Librarian sets a royalty rate along the lines
of the CARP recommendation (and sets the reporting requirements as
proposed), Internet radio as an industry will be effectively dead by
the end of May.
I respectfully urge you to communicate to the Librarian of Congress
that you and your fellow legislators, in passing the DMCA, did NOT
intend for the royalty rate to be set so high (and reporting
requirements so complex) that it would bankrupt the fledgling
Internet radio industry.
Many of your constituents and I will greatly appreciate your
attention to this concern.
Sincerely,
--Boundary_(ID_5bRsW+ef/cTItwCsAS3hlA)
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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { margin-top: 0 ; margin-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Re: Internet Radio</title></head><body>
<div>David,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><x-tab> </x-tab>I
received an email (4/26/02) from Scot Hacker, author of <u>MP3 the
Definitive Guide</u>, with a call to action. Scott admonishes,
"...this is an extremely volatile time for Internet radio -
congress is going to kill it dead. It's extremely important that you
write or call your congress person as soon as possible, before it's
too late. See</div>
<div>http://www.saveinternetradio.org/ and tell your friends."
Tuesday Oct. 2 is the deadline. See the Post Script below.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><x-tab> </x-tab>You'll
find a free version of RealPlayer 8 at
http://forms.real.com/real/player/player<span
></span>.html?dc=101930929&lang=en&loc=us&src=020<span
></span>717realhome_mac http://www.real.com. Unix is supported,
here's a list of options.</div>
<div>Linux/Alpha (Debian)</div>
<div>Linux/Alpha (Red Hat 6.2)<br>
Linux/Sparc (Red Hat 6.2)<br>
Linux/PPC 2000<br>
Irix 6.5<br>
Irix 6.3<br>
AIX 4.2<br>
AIX 4.3<br>
Solaris 2.6 (Sparc)<br>
Solaris 7 (Sparc)<br>
Linux 2.x (libc6 i386)<br>
Linux 2.x (libc6 i386) RPM<br>
hp-ux 11</div>
<div>Unixware 7 (i386)</div>
<div>BUT, they also say,</div>
<div>"NOTICE: RealNetworks has provided this software at the
request of customers in the UNIX community. In addition, RealNetworks
does not guarantee functionality, maintenance, upgrades, fixes, or
suitability for any purpose.</div>
<div>This software is not formally supported by RealNetworks.
However, a special public forum has been provided by RealNetworks to
give users of these products a place to share their thoughts and
experiences. We encourage you to use this forum for this purpose.
http://realforum.real.com/cgi-bin/unixpl<span
></span>ayer/wwwthreads.pl. " Hope this helps.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Michael</div>
<div>handuma.com</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Before a diamond shows it's brilliance and prismatic colors it
has to stand a good deal of cutting and smoothing. Anonymouns</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>P.S. <font face="Geneva" size="-2" color="#000000">State Member
DC Phone District Phone E-Mail<br>
MO Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R) 202-224-5721
573-634-2488 kit_bond at bond.senate.gov<br>
MO Sen. Jean Carnahan (D) 202-224-6154 314-436-3416
senator_carnahan at carnahan.senate.gov<br>
MO Karen McCarthy (D-05) 202-225-4535 816-842-4545
http://www.house.gov/writerep/<br>
<br>
Dear _______________:<br>
<br>
I am writing you to express my strong fear that the US Copyright
Office may be about to make a decision in the next few weeks that
will bankrupt and effectively destroy the Internet radio industry.<br>
<br>
Let me begin by clarifying that this issue is not about Napster -- in
fact, quite the opposite. Internet radio is a perfectly legal new
medium that offers wonderful benefits for musicians and record
companies as well as for consumers. (Record company revenues from CD
sales may well be at risk in this "digital millennium," but
that's due to the phenomena of MP3 file sharing and CD burning, not
due to Internet radio.)<br>
<br>
As required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), however,
the Copyright Office is obligated to set a "sound recordings
performance royalty" rate for Internet radio. But the Copyright
Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) that was convened last summer has
reached a conclusion that is probably far more draconian than
anything Congress intended.<br>
<br>
For most Webcasters, the critical issues in front of the Librarian of
Congress are:<br>
<br>
(#1) The CARP arbitrators set a royalty rate far higher than the rate
for composers' royalties (based almost exclusively on a single deal
during the height of the dotcom craze between Yahoo! and the
RIAA).<br>
<br>
(#2) The CARP arbitrators recommended a fixed price per song streamed
per listener, rejecting a alternative "percentage of gross
revenues" royalty concept that both sides had previously been
willing to accept, and<br>
<br>
(#3) The Copyright Office has proposed recordkeeping and reporting
requirements, precisely as requested by the RIAA, that are wildly
beyond the abilities of most webcasters to fulfill.<br>
<br>
Regarding the first two points above: The RIAA initially asked
webcasters for a royalty of 15% of gross revenues. Webcasters
initially countered by offering approximately 3% of gross revenues,
in the range of the royalty they pay to composers. They could not
come to terms, so the two sides went to arbitration in front of the
CARP. The CARP's recommendation to the Copyright Office, however, is
not a percentage of gross revenues at all, but rather a price per
song per listener -- at a price that, even if webcasters could
eventually achieve the same advertising success that broadcasters
have achieved, would work out to a royalty rate of 20% of gross
revenues! (That's a third more than the RIAA asked for!) Worse yet,
in the current advertising environment, the CARP's proposed rate
equates to a royalty rate closer to 200% to 300% of gross
revenues!</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-2" color="#000000"><br>
Worse yet again, the royalties are retroactive to October 1998. For a
popular independent webcaster that has had, say, an average audience
of 1,000 listeners (fewer than a single small-market broadcast radio
station) for the past three years, the bill for retroactive royalties
would be $525,600, or a retroactive royalty rate of 500% to 1000% of
their gross revenues to date.<br>
<br>
It's hard to imagine that this is what Congress had in mind when it
passed the DMCA.<br>
<br>
In conclusion, if the Librarian sets a royalty rate along the lines
of the CARP recommendation (and sets the reporting requirements as
proposed), Internet radio as an industry will be effectively dead by
the end of May.<br>
<br>
I respectfully urge you to communicate to the Librarian of Congress
that you and your fellow legislators, in passing the DMCA, did NOT
intend for the royalty rate to be set so high (and reporting
requirements so complex) that it would bankrupt the fledgling
Internet radio industry.<br>
<br>
Many of your constituents and I will greatly appreciate your
attention to this concern.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,</font></div>
<div><br></div>
</body>
</html>
--Boundary_(ID_5bRsW+ef/cTItwCsAS3hlA)--
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