More sports on FM: WIP(AM) to simulcast on 94.1

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:43:03 -0400, "Brian Vita" <brian_vita@cssinc.com> said:

> Garrett, I believe you are wrong here.  The killer won't be ASCAP, BMI or
> SESAC.  It will be SoundExchange.  They are already shaking down radio
> stations that webcast along with internet streamers on behalf of the RIAA
> (yes, the record companies).

The Copyright Office sets the royalty rate (under a statutory license)
for "digital broadcasting".  For stations like Bob's, which don't
stream, this has not had any effect.

The recording industry would like Congress to change the law to
include "analogue broadcasting" as well, but this has yet to happen.
(I believe that it should be so changed, but the current royalty rates
are exhorbitantly disproportionate with the value realized by an
individual broadcaster from any one particular performance, and should
be reduced by a very large fraction.)

The viewpoints of the broadcasting industry and the recording industry
are amusingly symmetric:

BROADCASTERS: Why should we pay for the privilege of giving free
advertising to their product?

LABELS: Why should we be forced to give away our product for free so
that someone else can use it to sell an audience to advertisers?

This debate is likely to go on for some time -- meanwhile, the "big
three" collecting societies will continue to collect royalties on
behalf of their customers: the songwriters, composers, and music
publishers.

-GAWollman