First of all, a MYTH needs to be dispelled up front.

Boycott-Riaa is NOT per-se any kind of a "pro-filesharing" website! One of the ONLY things we agree with the RIAA about is that you should NOT share RIAA tunes! (Please CAREFULLY read our "mission statement")

=========================================================

Boycott-Riaa is a website that is currently owned by Dmusic Networks L.L.C. (which is mostly known for its' popular independent music website called Dmusic.com )

...but Boycott-Riaa is ALSO a community for virtually anyone and everyone who chooses to participate.

We are a (privately owned) public FORUM provided for a very loose-knit, idealistically wide-ranged gathering of folks who are interested in the issues and agenda

(...which you are invited to join!)

We are NOT any sort of "legal" entity, nor an "organization" (I don't even think you could properly call us a "club")

We collect NO "dues" nor do we "require" anything from anyone (other than civil behavior) when using our website

We do NOT make public the names and/or other info of those who choose to participate (although, individual participants are free to do so on their own if they so-choose)

We will NEVER give/sell personal info (such as your real name, e-mail, etc.) to any company (or anyone) without your permission, ...NOR would would we ever willingly divulge a participant's personal info to any government/other entity (...unless there was a child-porn purveyor or a terrorist or murderer who was being stupid enough to spam our site with that kind of true evil.)

No, we do NOT know how many hundreds or thousands of folk are, or have been "members" or "lurkers" and/or "participants" at Boycott-Riaa over the years (suffice it to say that there have been, and ARE, very MANY...)

We believe in FREE SPEECH, but at the same time you must always remember that Boycott-Riaa is PRIVATELY owned. ANYTHING you say here (rarely enacted, but still-so) IS subject to editing, modification, deletion, and/or etc. This is OUR HOUSE! (Specifically meaning that it belongs to Larry Feldman aka "leflaw" who owns Dmusic Networks L.L.C.) And Boycott-Riaa reserves the right to change/delete anything posted on this site anytime it is deemed necsesary.

Users, participants, visitors are ENCOURAGED to disagree with one another (EVEN with the Boycott-Riaa admin/mods/and the owner) about anything so long as ALL arguements and such are kept from reaching "personal attack" levels. (Fight about the ISSUES, but do NOT be personally insulting towards those whom you disagree with or simply "don't like"!)

==================
NOTE TO STUDENTS WITH TERM PAPERS AND OR SCHOOL PROJECTS:

PLEASE sign up for a username and password, ...then post your requests for "interviews" and other questions HERE in this "Welcome" thread. I find DOZENS of your requests for school paper interviews, projects, and such each time I look in the INBOX. I want to, but I simply CAN'T answer each and every one of you individually.

You would each have better answers (and quicker response) by simply posting your questions HERE in the "Welcome" thread than you would by hitting the "contact" link.

===============
NOTE TO FOLKS WHO THINK THEY ARE BEING SUED BY THE RIAA:

Please consult a lawyer BEFORE responding to any RIAA representative. Contact the Electronic Fontier Foundation (EFF at http://eff.org for help locating one in your area/juristiction. DO be advised that there seem to be many FAKE representatives of the RIAA out there who are spamming folks with FAKE lawsuits!!! ...unfortunately, Boycott-Riaa has NO way to tell the difference between "real" and "fake" RIAA lawsuits. OUR advise is to ALWAYS consult a lawyer before "settling" a copyright infringement lawsuit. (Learn for sure what you are getting yourself into BEFORE you sign away your money and rights!!!)

================
NOTE TO EVERYONE!

This "Welcome" thread shall be an "open thread" ...but not a "normal" one as in the past

...from now on this "Welcome" thread/section is primarily reserved for use as a communication platform for NEW visitors with questions for us ...and/or for those of you with things that need to be said that are in spirit with the overall Boycott-Riaa agenda/mission. (If I catch any of our "regular participants" using it to have flame-wars with each-other I am SERIOUSLY going to knock heads!!!)

=============
By the way folks,

I am Shmoo, aka "independentmusician"
of the independent rock band band Electric Gypsy
...your humble Chief Admin/Mod
of Boycott-Riaa

I am at your service!
Support Local and Independent Music!

(I'm serious, READ our "mission statement" over on your left!)

Students, New Visitors, New Participants:

If you post anything below that you want any of our "regulars" to directly respond to you about...

PLEASE create a NEW e-mail adress using any of the free services out there (yahoo, google, msn, hotmail, etc.) specifically for your term paper and/or whatever.

We do NOT want anyone to have to post their own personally used day-to-day e-mail addy "in the clear"

----------

This is the Internet folks. Be SMART about it.

...oh, and one more thing

Folks, don't use this "Welcome" thread for things that belong "In The News"

...just scroll down the main-page a little ways, (you WILL find a current edition where that stuff belongs.)

Sorry, Shmoo, my bad.

Don't worry yerself none NiceGuy2003
=============

FROM THE INBOX:

Message: Quick question. My son was given an mp3 player for his birthday 3 weeks ago, thanks to his grandparents. I just found out that he downloaded about 150 songs off of Kazaa over the last 2 weeks. Needless to say that I quickly put an end to this and made him delete the Kazaa program and delete the songs off the player and his computer HD. I do not think he shared any files via this program and if he did it was very minimal. We will be looking into a legal download site at this point.

How much exposure do I have to getting a letter from RIAA based on what he did? Is there anything else I can due to minmize any possible damage done?

I understand that you oppose the RIAA however I do not personally wish to battle with them at this time. Thanks for any recommendations/comments.

Concerned Parent
============

There is always a small chance the RIAA "caught whiff" the downloading activity, but I wouldn't loose too much sleep over it. (Your chances of winning the lottery jackpot with one ticket are probably about equal to the chance of being singled out by the RIAA for a mear 150 downloads.)

BTW, kazaa and the p2p services themselves are not illegal. If you stay away from RIAA tunes, the RIAA can't say "boo" about it.

I don't recommend ANY of the so-called legal "pay" services, but you might want to try like Dmusic, IUMA, garageband, and other such independent music sites to fill up your mp3 player.

You can also rip any CD's and/or records you already own. (The RIAA doesn't have the right to say "boo" about that either.)

I'm a student and am doing an essay discussing whether or not major record labels have unfair stranglehold on musicians, and how this should stopped. If anyone could direct me to some essays, academic writing, websites regarding this, it would be a great help.
Thanks,
Frustrated Student.

"I'm a student and am doing an essay discussing whether or not major record labels have unfair stranglehold on musicians, and how this should stopped. If anyone could direct me to some essays, academic writing, websites regarding this, it would be a great help.
Thanks,
Frustrated Student."

aside from my personal thoughts and feelings...which you are free to ask for if you cant tell already...i only have an essay i wrote for a scholarship...its more about file sharing and copyright reform than anything else tho...but if it helps...ill be more than happy to let you take a look

FYI

I started a myspace group called boycott-riaa as a way of promotion...hopefully it catches on.

[/url]http://groups.myspace.com/boycottriaa[/url]

im retarded...

http://groups.myspace.com/boycottriaa

drschnoz, this entire website is devoted to your question. Feel free to poke around. Click on "friends" over on the left side of the page for links to other sites.

I hope this hasn't been posted before...but nice straightforward video on youtube.com about the evils of "trusted computing".

Trusted Computing

Very basic. It helps anyone understand why "trusted computing" is bad, bad, bad.

Grretings from Virginia Beach, VA !!

Recently I became one of the few "foolish" people in the world, by joining a "scam", which is "mykazaagold.com".

Like a real "bonehead", and not being properly "constructive, like a 44 year old retired member of the Armed Forces (US Navy, rah !!) should have done, was to consult you guys...and my possible delima was the primary reason for joining you all tonight.

Here is the jest of the situation, at hand:

-- I joined "mykazaagold" for the primary reason (at $ 39.95 for unlimited downloads) was their statement: "Online music networks refferred by My Kazaa Gold are subject to a statutory license non-interactive webcasting of digital audio and take care of royality payments due to various organizations in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMC 17 USC 114), and that My Kazaa Gold is a music download service, and NOT file sharing !!"

When I saw this I said, well maybe this would be a safe download site, unlimited FREE music (for a lifetime at $ 39.99).

After paying for the service, I noticed that it had the same structure as Kazaa and Morpheus; downloaded only 8 songs, and I noticed that these 8 songs, in the PROPERTIES area, contained NO LICENSE...here is comes...the RIAA tracing to commence....

Like, I only downloaded 8 songs; I signed up for the service at 10AM; finished the downloads at 11AM; deleted the MP3 files, and then deleted the program by 12NOON last Saturday....

I do not know if I attracted the RIAA "webcrawler" or not, but trust me...I do not wish to be a victim of RIAA and there so-called re-enactment of the 1492 Salem Witch hunts.

At the time that I performeed the download, I had uncompleted downloads from the new Napter (totalling around 50 or 60), that I failed to deleted...I do not know if them resting in my non-shared folder, attracted RIAA's attention....

I am trying not to lose sleep on this, but was wondering, if I was targeted, and would I be getting a "Go To Jail FREE Card" and have to cough up "payola" for the 8 songs downloaded, then removed ??

Can you assist ??

Thanks...AB in VA Beach VA

RIAA "licensing requirements" for bars and clubs ??

With the ongoing changes that the RIAA is doing, I would not doubt the following:

-- If you are caught humming a tune, the RIAA will sue you for it !!

-- Club and Bar owners slapped with lawsuits for not licensing the music being played (remember, when you buy a CD..it is for personal use and not for an audience..copyright infringement...and that came from Cheryl Crow).

--RIAA restrictives imposed on "American Idol"; demanding royalities for use of music being sung by amateurs.

-- RIAA issuing procedures for parties, where the DJ sets up his music, and it is played to a group...in addition, if someone wants to sing a song....RIAA gets involved for royality payments....

It is plain and simple...if you saw the movie or read the book by George Orwell..1984...it is now and in place....

The RIAA really sucks, and I will continue to be skeptical of their existance...

-- AB in VA Beach VA

AB in VA Beach VA -- As long as you did not share any RIAA music (as in allow others to download from you), you should have no worries.

aeb23452:

Also, ASCAP successfully sued the Girl Scouts a number of years back for allowing members to sing campfire songs. Due to public backlash they backed off but the Girl Scouts still have to pay them $1 per year royalties. You can't make this stuff up.

A moment of silence for a great voice silenced "Gene Pitney" you will be missed !!! flbgbt

Say it ain't so! The RIAA has been lying to us about their falling revenues. Yes, revenues from physical media sales have fallen 13% in recent years, but the rise in digital download purchases has made up most of the difference: Since 2002 total revenues from music sales have only dropped 2.7%, according to the RIAA's data. Of course, that's not what they tell us when they want to howl about the terrible effect that file sharing and CD copying is having on their industry:

RIAA crying wolf all the way to the bank

Just to let you know that I, and my colleague Ty Rogers, are changing
firms this weekend.

Effective Monday, April 10th, my new contact information will be as
follows:

Vandenberg & Feliu LLP
110 E. 42 St. (Suite 1502)
New York, NY 10017
Phone 212-763-6800; Direct 763-6809
Fax 763-6810
rbeckerman@vanfeliu.com

Best regards,

Ray

===========================

Folks, Ray Beckerman and his team are someone you might want to call if you are being sued by the RIAA and need help finding an attorney.

"Say it ain't so! The RIAA has been lying to us about their falling revenues. Yes, revenues from physical media sales have fallen 13% in recent years, but the rise in digital download purchases has made up most of the difference: Since 2002 total revenues from music sales have only dropped 2.7%, according to the RIAA's data. Of course, that's not what they tell us when they want to howl about the terrible effect that file sharing and CD copying is having on their industry:"

dont forget about the incredibly HUUGGGEEE amount of profit they recieve from suing everday ppl

Hey, I have a very, very good question... officially, boycott-riaa recommends NOT downloading RIAA music on P2P networks... you know, mainstream shit. I'm motha' 'freakin' "underground", so me of all people would probably be the last to download mainstream music... but...

What actually qualifies as "RIAA" music? We all know about the web site RIAA Rader, http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/ One of my fav. artists is Dillinja, and he's underground. "Why do you 'tink I make music? 'Tink I make music for fuckin' money? See me makin' any money?! I make music because I love makin' fuckin' music; what's wrong with that?" So, you get the kinda' vibe from him... but... on RIAA Radar, his main album, Cybertron, fall under the RIAA on RIAA Radar. http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/search.asp

I understand sometimes it can be the distribution company that gets the "RIAA" branding for an album... but, here's my question; what constitutes as "RIAA" music? I mean Dillinja’s shit ain’t mainstream… and he doesn’t work the same as mainstream artists do and he is underground, and all of his artists under his underground label Valve. But, the “RIAA”’s had a hand on his music, and a whole shit load’a underground artists.

So, what constitutes as “RIAA music”? (asking sorta’ as an actual question, but also as a rhetorical question for you guys to think over)

THAT is a very GOOD question mixerjaexx.

(But if you are "itching" for the short-sweet answer... IMHO,

if you are an artist/performer who SIGNS with an RIAA affiliated label, OR you allow YOUR shit to be exploited for proffit purposes by a company/entity/corporation...

Then, you are a SELL-OUT!

"So, what constitutes as “RIAA music”?"


That's EZ...


EVERYTHING you see and hear on commercial radio and TV

(unless you watch that one SINGLE channel thay your cable provider throws in

Y'know, that "local" channel which runs employment oppertunities...)

(BTW folks, did you know YOU can use that governmentally mandated channel for YOUR OWN local purposes if you get off your asses and go DO it?)

From The Inbox:

Message: Hi, the one thing i have against those idiots at the riaa is this, i call it the flavor of the day,, whats that?? thats when the riaa alters the rules to make current artists a bit more than what they really are, good exsample, garth brooks, a few years back they started giving double albums twice the actual sales figures,, of course this started when they wanted to see him overtake elvis, and possibally the beatles in total album sales, see before garth, if a double record sold 6 million, thats what it sold, along comes garth with double live, sooo, they wanting there new mesiha to at least overtake elvis, and get this new flavor of the day, in the spotlight, changed the rules, now if garth sells 10 million, we will count it as 20, they also have changed a few other things so brooks could become the all time solo artist, which, at this point he no longer is, but its the point here, lets see this for what it is,, elvis has been certfied as haveing sold more singels than anyone in history, but, they only count his album sales,, why, hell ask them,,, my idea is this, if they count his singles, with his albums, hed surpass even the beatles,, why i ask?? certifie his singels, yet not count them towards his total amount, this same scam goes on over at billboard, mariah carey has 17 #1 singels, but not really,, because half were duets with other bands,,, aahhh but billboard changed the rules,, why, because mariah, is also the flavor of the day, they were in such a hurry to have her proclaimed artist with most #1 weeks on chart, beating the beatles, who at the time had 60 weeks at the top,, the idiots forgot elvis is #1 with 80 weeks at #1,,, like the riaa they simply make bigger fools of themselves than need be,, all at the expence of the flavor of the day!!!!!!!

ThanX Shmoo. I wasn't too concerned for myself, but for people that may be wondering. See, we compliment each other. You guys say "Boycott RIAA" and we (over at supportUG) say "SUPPORT THE UNDERGROUND". It works out. You tell people who'ta fight and we tell people who'ta support. Just realized that.

http://www.boycott-riaa.com
http://www.supportTHEunderground.com

Yeah, that's fuckin' hot...

I don't know if you guys have seen this yet but...
CRIA shoots itself in the foot! Publicly displays that it is a shill for the big 4 only, and the independent are leaving the CRIA fold like rats from a sinking ship!! Hurray for Canada!

See
http://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1204/Itemid,85/nsub,/

and

http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2386

Thanks brenthannah, I'll front page this story!

By perching themselves at the top of the pyramid, not interested in
albums with initial sales potential less than gold (500,000), the major
labels are insuring their own marginalization. For it's a long tail
world, and he who does not participate in it is doomed.

An aggregator must give something to its stable of clients, and at this
point the only thing major labels offer is a potential moon shot. With
a failure rate far higher than the Space Shuttle. And, other than John
Glenn, what astronaut has had a career AFTER his brief trip to outer
space?

Follow the porn industry. Anybody with a body to bare has LEFT the
aggregator to go it alone. For they're sick of being ripped off by the
fat cats, "Playboy" emulators who believe their brand is bigger than the
body. As if EMI were bigger than the music. That's the future.
Everybody's cottage industry. And those who profit sit ON TOP of the
cottage industry. Offering a lot for very little. A la Google. That's
where you go to find out about everything, but they make their money
elsewhere, off advertising from the glut of eyeballs they generate.

This TV story is both dazzling and informative.

While the major labels bickered about the price of tracks at the iTunes
Music Store, the television networks realized selling shows for $1.99
on Apple's site WAS NOT WHERE IT WAS AT! Was a veritable SIDESHOW!
Leaving most people OUT!

Credit AOL. With broadcasting old sitcoms like "Welcome Back Kotter"
on its site. Suddenly, Disney is broadcasting NEW shows one day later,
and now Fox has followed suit. These companies realize that they must
satiate the CUSTOMER, not THEMSELVES! That people don't want to own
the damn shows, they just want to SEE THEM! Sure, you can steal them
P2P, but if you can just click and watch them WHENEVER YOU WANT, what's
the POINT?? Maybe sell them all as a package of files a la DVDs in the
future, then again, if everything's always available, why do you have to
OWN IT? As for the commercials, if you can pause, if you're watching
the shows when YOU want, you can burn that time in front of the fridge,
you can take a dump, it's not like "All In The Family" is only on for
half an hour Thursday night and if you miss it you're fucked until
RERUNS!

Micropayments are bullshit. It's like being pecked to death by ducks.
By charging per track at the iTunes Music Store, the major labels are
MARGINALIZING THEMSELVES! Americans want to know what the price is.
They don't want to be hit with endless charges, if so, they DON'T BUY!

TV networks are taking advantage of the Net. Major labels are not.
There's nothing new about iTunes Music Store distribution other than you
get a shittier product for an equal aliquot track price as you do with
the CD.

To survive, the majors must distribute ALL music. Even that which
sells ten copies. They must SKIM profits, not make ALL the profits. And
they must distribute the product in a form their clientele finds
desirable and usable. In other words, no DRM. Complete portability. More
tracks for fewer dollars. In other words, flat fee pricing. Yup, all
you can eat for a few bucks a month.

There's a way out, licensed P2P.

Don't expect the majors to take it. Instead, in front of EVERYBODY
they're making themselves irrelevant. Ceding the music landscape to those
younger and more innovative. BELIEVE ME, some twentysomething's going
to aggregate and own online distribution charging very little. Along
the lines of CD Baby, but DIGITALLY!

With the Net, distribution costs go down very low. If more people own
more music everybody makes more money. Venues are full. Careers
burgeon. This is the music savior we've been waiting for. DON'T listen to
the RIAA bullshit!

--Bob Lefsetz

"The major labels must distribute ALL music. They must SKIM profits, not make ALL the profits. And they must distribute the product in a form their clientele finds desirable and usable. In other words, no DRM. Complete portability.
More tracks for fewer dollars. In other words, flat-fee pricing."

Of course, they should also not to hinder a fair, level playing field for independent musicians.

I believe all those kinds of things will happen
when rabbits lay eggs.

Still, that's what the majors OUGHTA do. The fact they don't and won't says more about them than anything else I can think of at the moment.

Bob Lefsetz has a common complaint:

========

"Driving to go hiking two years ago in the warm months, I heard "Lay Me
Down" for the first time. Hearing it now makes me believe that the
summer will be okay. That I'll cope.

I want you to hear it.

Unfortunately, the way the music world works, you can't. Isn't it
amazing that the labels are trying to sell you all this shit, but you can't
hear it? They want you to PAY first. That's RIDICULOUS! It's not the
seventies anymore. With a plethora of FM stations playing a broad
swath of material, EVERYTHING good. Now, something can be truly great and
most people are never exposed to it. And that's a TRAGEDY! Because
music is the grease that makes life work.

You should be able to hear anything I write about, anything a friend
tells you about, INSTANTLY! Not for free, you should be paying for this
service. Ten or fewer dollars a month. And then music would be
healthy. The power would be wrested from the traditional gatekeepers, the
heyday would return, music would rule. Isn't it funny that those in
charge don't want this?

Still, you can hear a 47 second snippet of "Lay Me Down" on
Crosby-Nash's Website. You'll miss the exquisite guitar work, but you'll get the
idea.

Go to: http://crosbynash.com/. Click on "Recordings" on the left-hand
side. Of the six albums that appear, click on the one in the upper
left-hand corner. THEN, when a picture of this album takes over the
screen, click on the left-hand side once again, on "The Songs". Then, click
on "Lay Me Down". THEN, click on the little speaker icon next to the
lyrics.

Obviously somebody fucked up here. Somebody is Web clueless. At LEAST
have the music available to hear on your homepage, on the DEFAULT page.
But, despite the labyrinth, now, assuming you've got RealPlayer
installed, listen to the tune.

You'll think it's 1970 all over again."

As much as I love and adore CSN, please don't go listen to this tune he is talking about.
The crap Bob Lefsetz is complaining about is one of the reasons we are BOYCOTTING the RIAA. (CSN sadly still refuses to quit association with the RIAA.)

So hey... what's the deal? Are there the "big four" or "big five" record lables? I've seen reports of both even on BC-R. So what's the deal? Is it four or five?

Sony/BMG is a hybrid now, so I guess it's 4.

...but REALLY it might as well just be ONE

the RIAA

FROM THE INBOX:

Message: I found a site that you might want to feature under boycott-riaa picks: www.7daysmusic.de
The site is in english, despite the german top level domain. The fellows wrote, recorded and published 10 songs in 7 days, all free to download. I'm shure they would also link you if you would ask them and sertanly if you put them as boycott-riaa pick

ANOTHER:

Message: Why can we not get lyrics to the songs we PURCHASE from iTunes?

Tomoroows testimony from Todd Rudngren in the Senate Judiciary hearings:

"Testimony of Todd Rundgren

Hearing on
"Parity, Platforms and Protection: The Future of the Music Industry in
the Digital Radio Revolution"

Before the U.S. Senate
Committee on the Judiciary
April 26, 2006


Chairman Specter, Senator Leahy and members of the Committee:


My name is Todd Rundgren, I am 58, and I am a professional musician. I
have also been employed as a record producer, composer for film and
television, technology spokesman and computer programmer. I am the
designer and developer of PatroNet, an internet-based subscription
service that allows audiences to provide direct underwriting of artists
in exchange for insider information, direct communication, discounted
merchandise and first-look experiences of the artists' work, all within
a community structure.

This is my 40th year as a musician, and 18th year as an independent. I
left Warner Brothers in 1998 with the conviction that the major labels
were unprepared for, and were indeed hostile to the inevitable changes
that digital technology would effect in the way that music would be
created, marketed and experienced. I wasn't so prescient that I foresaw
the rise of the internet, but I was convinced that I would be hindered
in any attempt to use new developments to alter the ground rules.

One of the first cutting edge projects I was involved in concerned
digital rights management, a concept that did not yet exist. I was hired
by, ironically enough, the Warner Full Service Network, an interactive
television pilot project that sought to merge video, computers and
high-bandwidth home delivery. The plan was to create on-demand
music services that could be navigated on one's home TV -- kind of like
an iTunes for the early '90s.
When it came time to plug the music in, everything I had suspected about
the savvyness of the industry was crystallized. To a label, every one of
the majors refused to consider the possibility of putting music they
controlled onto a server. Ironically, even the music division of Warner
Brothers would not cooperate, even though this was only a demonstration
project.

Ever since then, the behavior of the majors has been that of a mindless
parasite, contributing nothing, yet trying to get it's snout into the
bloodstream of any new development. The knee-jerk justification is
"protection of artists", which would more accurately be represented as
the interests of highly bankable artists still under contract. For every
one of those, there are a hundred with a lifelong bad taste in their
mouths over the way they were treated when sales began to lag.
I have striven to tie together the "replacement parts" an independent
musician would need to build enough audience for a sustainable living.
Amongst these is, of course, the internet and a raft of contractors who
can press and distribute discs for you and, if you can afford it, take
on the promotion and marketing normally provided by a label. The only
problem is getting heard. Terrestrial radio, especially of the
syndicated flavor, is not available to most artists even if they do have
a traditional label deal.

I am opposed to any measures that would insinuate the major labels into
an area that they have failed to husband, and to capitalize off of
artists they have abandoned or never had any interest in. The myth that
you could survive very long on record company advances has long been
debunked. Players need to play to get paid and need audiences to play
to. All the majors have ever done is try to claim the audience as theirs
alone, and to lower expectations by exposing them only to the generally
substandard product the majors begrudgingly underwrite.

Worse yet, across the board fee structures like those proposed
discourage the exposure of new talent in deference to audience favorites
as broadcasters try to recover those fees. And worst of all, syndicated
radio, the majors partner in neglect, does not deserve exemption for the
abysmal quality of product they deliver. The fantasy that this type of
legislation helps music or musicians should be summarily exposed for
what it is: yet another futile attempt to turn back the clock to the
days when they were the sole gatekeepers to an artist's future.

Thank you for inviting me here to testify today. I would be pleased to
respond to your questions."

Hurray for Todd!!!

This bill is at the behest of Feinstein.

see Senate Hearing now 9:30 am EST:

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1853