Re: Clear Channel ends streaming broadcasts ... please explain

["tony schinella" <radiotony@attbi.com>]

Thanks Garrett [and Brian who posted earlier].
It seems that the record companies and performance societies, and to a
lesser extent recording artists who will benefit from some of these extra
fees, want it both ways - promotion of new CDs and then extra fees for
essentially reaching an assumed larger audience via the Web - even if there
is no hard proof of such an audience.
However, what if instead of blocking broadcasting via the Web, radio
stations said "Okay, well, we will only broadcast artists and companies who
waive the Webcasting fees." Have any of them thought of trying this as a
solution to the stalemate? Granted, I know we are talking about mostly huge
multi-national corporations here. But if the stations have already paid,
they have already paid - whether it is broadcasting via the airwaves, Web,
or a speaker set up on the sidewalk.
Until recently, I haven't utilized Webcasting. But since getting broadband,
I have started to listen to some of the stations to see what others are
doing.
It would seem to me that the people who are losing in this argument are
lesser known artists, small indie labels who put out the lesser known
artists and don't "earn" performance society royalties, and the small,
independent radio station and Webcasters.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@lcs.mit.edu>
To: "tony schinella" <radiotony@attbi.com>
Cc: <bri@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: Clear Channel ends streaming broadcasts ... please explain


> <<On Sat, 4 Jan 2003 10:42:46 -0500, "tony schinella"
<radiotony@attbi.com> said:
>
> > However, it was my understanding that if a radio station pays the
> > annual fee to BMI, they can broadcast BMI songs over the
> > airwaves. So, why can't they broadcast on the Web?
>
> By rights, they should be able to.  However, you have to understand
> that ASCAP/BMI/SESAC (and SOCAN in Canada and PRS in the UK) represent
> only part of the picture.  All of these organizations sell copyright
> licenses for the performance of songs, under the *songwriter's*
> copyright.
>
> A specific performance of a song is also subject to copyright (or
> ``phonorecord right'', hence the P-in-a-circle) on the part of the
> people who performed it.  For many artists and bands, this copyright
> is assigned to a record company as a part of their recording contract.
> Historically, broadcasts of recorded music were considered in and of
> themselves to benefit the owner of the performance (by encouraging
> record sales), so the record companies were not entitled to additional
> compensation.
>
> DMCA reversed that presumption with respect to digital broadcasting.
> A copyright tribunal convened a few years ago by the Register of
> Copyright (part of the Library of Congress) decided that the owners of
> recording copyright were entitled to compensation for every listener
> who receives part of the recording in digital form.  At the same time,
> a compulsory-license scheme was set up, so that those who wished to
> continue broadcasting could do so without having to make a separate
> contract with every record company and/or artist whose music they
> broadcast.  However, the fees and record-keeping requirements for this
> license are so onerous that most stations simply discontinued
> streaming, the added cost making an already-marginal business case
> even less sound.
>
> Non-commercial stations which receive CPB funding are exempt from this
> regime, and have a different licensing scheme.  This is similar to
> (although more restricted than) the compulsory licensing scheme for
> ordinary broadcasts by non-commercial stations.
>
> There are a few ways around this:
>
> - Only broadcast live performances, subject to a specific contract
> with the performers.
>
> - Negotiate separate agreements with each copyright holder.  In some
> formats and for some record labels this may be a practical option.
>
> - Hope the record companies are too caught up searching dorm rooms for
> pirated songs to notice you.
>
> -GAWollman
>
>