In an amazing turn around the House Judiciary Committee added the text back into the bill HR 5469 (Webcasting Royalty Bill) that sees to it that the artists get paid directly. The bill offers a lower royalty rate to small commerical webcasters. However the bill does not apply to college webcasters so there are still some issues to settle.

There was a flury of activity on Monday, to make sure that the artists got paid directly.

Another aspect of this that was quite encouraging was that many groups came together to assure that the text got put back in that pays the artist directly. Among them were: Future of Music Coalition, The Recording Artists Coalition, AFTRA, NARAS, The American Federation of Musicians, and the International Managers. GOOD WORK FOLKS!

Full Text of the Bill as Passed in the House (PDF)
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This is really good news for both the webcasters and the artists, but they left out college stations A serious omission I think.

I'm surprised they gave 'that much' away. Mind you, they still have control over stations that wield a lot of power to the younger generations. The joke is, colleges would rather be spending the money in more needed areas and not on some joke of a payment to give free publicity to musicians.

Still, it is good news. But no compromises. All or nothing. There can't be one rule for one group and a different rule for another because that is unreasonable considering both commercial and college stations do similar things (I presume - whats college ads like?).

We are gaining ground.

Hail Mp3!!!

"However the bill does not apply to college webcasters so there are still some issues to settle." Does this mean that college stations do not have to give broadcasting royalties or that the new text doesn't apply to them?

Come on now Groove, you know that RIAA is going to assume that means college must pay full royalties to the recording companies. This part will definately end up back in the courts.

The new text doesn't apply to them, it applies to small commercial webcasters.

I think college stations should be protected under the "educational use" clause... most college stations run on low frequencies or in a closed circuit and are simulcast to the web. But since they don't make any more money than that to fund the station and nobody gets paid for anything they should get the freedom to air what ever they damn well please.

Ditto. The RIAA's just scared.

Okay. Colleges either have to pay or not. Personally, I'd rather see it be "not pay", but here's a thought. A lot of colleges are funded by the states. So.. what does that mean? Taxes my friends. If these colleges are forced to pay royalties, then that's tax dollars. Tax dollars have to come from somewhere. Basically, what's going to happen if this is allowed to go unchecked is that you, me and that guy behind the curtain will end up subsidizing the payments, thru our taxes, to the RIAA. um...
PHUCK DAT! My tax dollars helped pay my way through college, in the form of grants and tuition assistance, not to mention my Disabled Veterans benefits. But that's not the point.
IF the RIAA is allowed to let this language to unchecked, then college stations WILL be paying royalties, which will mean the money has to come from somewhere, possibly budget cuts to some programs that NEED the money.
Follow the drugs, you get junkies.
Follow the money, and you don't know WHO you'll find.
This whole debacle has quickly gone from one company being pissy (Riaa v. Napster) to one company trying to rake in money from as many sources as it can, regardless of where it comes from or who it hurts in the process.
I'll say it again. There has to be something in corporate/buisness law that would indeed allow a lot of "little " people, of which I am proud to be one, to shut down this monster. If Bill Gates couldn't get away with HIS shit, why should we let the RIAA?

oops, just to clarify one point.
"Okay. Colleges either have to pay or not. Personally, I'd rather see it be "not pay"..."
That should be "pay or not pay the RIAA".. the artists definitely need to be paid since They are the ones that are doing the work. The RIAA shouldn't be given a cut of royalties. Clear now?

The bill went from two paragraphs to thirty pages just before the vote due to a backroom deal with the RIAA.

http://theregister.co.uk/content/6/27575.html

If I still had any faith left in our political system, I would have lost it now.