Forget Orin Hatch, it is Lamar Smith who is perhaps the biggest pal of our enemy (the RIAA/MPAA/etcAA.)

That guy needs to loose his seat in Congress ASAP! He is a danger to the entire Commons. Smith would give control of everything (including the Internet) over to our enemy. (He has already accomplished far too much harm!)

VOTE HIM OUT!

Copyright Office Fails Mission Again
by George Ziemann -- July 14, 2007

The mission of the Copyright Office is to promote creativity by administering and sustaining an effective national copyright system.
-- US Copyright Office

If you haven't been following the story about SoundExchange and webcaster royalty rates, I don't blame you because if you're not a webcaster it's all about channels and a lot of really boring stuff wherein tenths of a cent add up to a billion dollars. My personal opinion is that they should have stopped playing RIAA music five years ago.

Of course, it's too late for that now. The U.S. Copyright Office has practically handed the keys over to the RIAA by proving themselves totally incapable of "administering and sustaining an effective national copyright system." I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I can say that this is certainly not promoting my personal level of creativity. In fact, if I think about it too long, the current state of affairs is more likely to stop the creative impulse because, well really, why bother?

The Copyright Royalty Board was supposed to "determine rates and terms for the copyright statutory licenses and make determinations on distribution of statutory license royalties collected by the Copyright Office." This was theoretically an improvement on the copyright royalty arbitration panel they used to have. The old method was officially called the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, even though that makes no sense except that its acronym worked out to CARP instead of CRAP.

CARP didn't work because the RIAA bought out the game. Like any government activity, it cost a few million dollars every time they got together to hammer out new rates. The expense was divided among those wishing to take part. So the RIAA would pre-negotiate with, oh, everybody they could, significantly raising the price of admission to the discussion.

Part of the thinking behind the CRB was that it would be a permanent panel of judges, more involved parties could actually participate in the discussions and, whereas CARP only made recommendations, the CRB could actually set the rates.

After almost three years, the first set of rates determined by this new, impartial board has been examined by all involved parties and even tested in an appeals court. Their decision stands.

Sadly, their decision is so fucked up that SoundExchange (aka the RIAA) is now apparently willing to ignore it completely and negotiate individually with each webcaster, exactly the sort of situation the whole arbitration over statutory rates was supposed to eliminate.

A complete and total failure.

--------------------------

Source: http://azoz.com

It has been reported that today's Congress has the lowest approval rate in decades. I'm not surprised.

chnology July 13, 2007, 8:00PM EST text size: TT
A Reprieve for Net Radio
The music industry won't impose higher royalty rates on Webcasters—yet. Stay tuned, though

by Olga Kharif

Web radio will keep playing, rather than play dead, come July 15. The music industry won't impose higher royalty rates, which were to take effect that day, but the good news for Webcasters may prove fleeting.

The reprieve came July 12 when some 20 representatives of music labels, traditional radio networks, and Webcasters met on Capitol Hill, with industry royalty collector SoundExchange agreeing to hold off on the new fees while negotiations continue. The higher rates, approved in March by the Copyright Royalty Board (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/7/07, "The Last Days of Internet Radio?"), are so much higher than those currently paid that many Webcasters claimed that they will be forced out of business.

The music industry, by not sticking firmly to the deadline, appears to be giving credence to that dire declaration. "SoundExchange is in the business of generating revenues, and it's not going to help them if a good chunk of the industry goes out of business," explains Paul Palumbo, research director for AccuStream iMedia Research.
Large-Scale Talks Planned

SoundExchange also agreed to cap a new minimum royalty fee at $50,000 per station per year in place of a $500-per-music-"stream" fee mandated by the CRB, says Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, a customizable online radio station. That marks a huge win for Webcasters because with online radio technology, each individual Web user can create a custom stream.

Webcasters had struck an adamant stance on the issue, refusing for months to respond to compromise proposals issued by SoundExchange. "We weren't going to do any kind of a proposal until that fee was gone," Westergren says, pointing out that Pandora, with more than 7 million registered listeners, would have owed millions of dollars in royalties. With that settled, "we are absolutely committed to figuring out solutions," he says.

SoundExchange and Webcasters are now expected to gather for a large-scale negotiating session early in the week starting July 16, says Westergren, who was present during the July 12 meeting. At the heart of next week's discussions: the exact royalty rates Webcasters will be required to pay.
Devilish Details Remain

The Webcasting side now believes a compromise can be reached, and fast. "Our plan is to come to the negotiating table and be very reasonable," says Ian Rogers, general manager of Yahoo! (YHOO) Music. Rogers says the parties may ax the per-song fee in favor of a revenue-sharing agreement, which would allow the music industry to benefit as Net radio's sales grow. Web radio listening is expected to balloon as wireless broadband technologies such as WiMAX spread, enabling Web radio to become a mainstay in cars.

Alternatively, the two sides could hammer out tiered royalty rates, charging different fees to Webcasters of different sizes, says Dave Van Dyke, an analyst with consultancy Bridge Ratings. Perhaps nonprofit stations would pay different, lower fees as well. Whatever the compromise, if one is reached at all, Webcasters "are still going to have to pay the piper very shortly," Van Dyke says. While the minimum-fee compromise has appeased many large Webcasters, a deal on royalties is critical for smaller stations. "You may still see hundreds, if not thousands, of Webcasters go out of business," he says.

The Net radio business is not yet all that lucrative, generating just tens of millions in ad revenue per year, Palumbo estimates. "The industry is immature in what it can withstand in terms of royalty payments," he says.

Yet even if the talks collapse, just as illegal music sharing persists despite being outlawed, the Wild West of Web radio won't disappear overnight. "There are still a lot of Webcasters who are going to continue to broadcast no matter what," says Tom Webster, an analyst with consultancy Edison Media Research.

Kharif is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore.

Why can't webcasters just set up in another country? Say, Vanuatu?

I webcast, I play indie... some one fill me in as I am hearing that even to play indie-- full rights to me to broadcast or my own CD these fees will come against my measly 100 listener max server. and oh sh*t on occasion some unfiltered RIAA crap gets played. (pirate stations on the air waves oh its going to get fun!!)

For a small (basically for a group of 3-10 friends listening web cast), can any one fill me in on #1 how they would know what I'm playing, if its not a publicly advertised stream url, and #2 would I have to really pay 500 a year just to play my own recordings? or recordings of like minded musicians supplying CC licensed and or freely legally down loadable content? things like pod safe and even most here at DMusic? How will they know if I play the latest from NIN that was dropped on a zip drive in the bathroom of the arena the band was playing in or my bands original work?

I assume that really this is all about the "larger" web casters Twister/Phreak/ and other stations that run 24/7 (twister is gone went under) but the likes of those so that again the independent musician can't be heard! as AOL and Yahoo aren't gona play my/our music.

Until the feds come knocking my door ....

im pissed off now We're Not Going Anywhere Without a Fight thats right!

http://www.savenetradio.org/index.html

http://www.savenetradio.org/act_now/index.html