So this was supposed to be an easy night....I was all set to let you
know about the new 12"s from Domu, Buscemi and Worldless People and
CDs from Two Banks Of Four, Zero 7, Bjork, Incognito, Nitin Sawhney,
Saru and others that were in my bag for tonight's show.
Then I found out that Nibblebox - the nice folks who provide KUSF and
over 50 college stations with RealAudio streams, had temporarily
suspended their service, pending an appeal to overturn a recent
ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office requiring payment to the record
labels by terrestrial broadcasters who simulcast their programming on
the Internet.
In the event you haven't heard about this latest ploy by the major
record labels to control your listening habits, here's an excerpt
from the August 2nd edition of Webnoize announcing the court's
decision....I apologize for the length....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The radio industry lost a major battle against the recording industry
today when a federal court upheld an earlier ruling by the U.S.
Copyright Office that requires terrestrial broadcasters to pay
record labels when broadcasters stream their signals over the
Internet.
Unless successfully appealed, the decision means broadcasters,
including radio giants Clear Channel Communications and Viacom's
Infinity Broadcasting, will have to pay fees totaling in the
millions. The payments will mark the first time U.S. broadcasters
must pay to use recordings, a practice that is common abroad.
In December, the Copyright Office ruled radio broadcasters must pay
to stream their terrestrial signal online. Six broadcasters and the
National Association of Broadcasters, one of the most powerful trade
groups in the U.S., subsequently filed a legal action challenging the
Copyright Office's ruling.
In issuing its decision today, the United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a motion for summary
judgment brought by the Copyright Office in the case Bonneville
International Corp. vs. Marybeth Peters, as Register of Copyrights,
the suit's formal name.
The federal court said it was unwilling to support broadcasters'
contention that their Internet retransmissions are exempt by
extension of a separate ruling covering local terrestrial
retransmissions. Terrestrial retransmissions are restricted to a
particular geographic area under Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) rules.
Radio broadcasters are exempt from paying royalties to record labels
for terrestrial broadcasts of their music and had hoped to extend
that exemption to webcasting. However, the music industry
successfully argued that radio broadcasters should pay royalties to
the labels just as other webcasters must. At least 4,000 of the
14,000 radio stations based in the U.S. stream their signals on the
Internet.
NAB President Edward Fritts said in a statement that he was
disappointed with the ruling, but stopped short of saying whether his
organization will appeal.
"Broadcasters currently pay in excess of $300 million annually in
music licensing fees to compensate songwriters and music publishers,"
said Fritts, referring to fees paid to "traditional" performance
rights organizations ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. "Any additional fee to
compensate record companies would be unfair and unreasonable, and for
that reason, we are reviewing our options." Broadcasters have
contended they shouldn't have to pay the music companies because
their broadcasts provide valuable promotion for recordings.
Just how much money the broadcasters will have to fork over to music
companies depends on rates for compulsory licenses to be set by an
arbitration that began on Monday. That rate-setting process is
expected to last eight or nine months and could be subject to a
lengthy appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently Nibblebox fears being hit with huge fines if they're found
to be in violation of the law (as it currently stands) and frankly, I
don't blame them. I concur with the NAB's Edward Fritts when he
states that broadcasters offer a valuable promotional service for
labels and musicians by providing another medium for airplay and
exposure, but it's obvious that corporate interests and good ol'
greed speak louder. Since they were late to the party and can't seem
to come up with a coherent policy regarding digital music, the majors
seek to control the online world by suing their smaller competitors
out of existence, or buying them up and rendering them powerless.
At the end of the day, who suffers most if this ruling stands? Sure,
some of you may not care about tuning into WWOZ in New Orleans for
great jazz, or to KPIG for the best in Americana, or even to KUSF to
hear "FreeFall," but when the dust settles, it's the artists getting
the short end of the stick...again.
That's all for this week - ciao for now.
David
**************************
Last week's playlist and this week's Live365 archive available online now:
FreeFall #55: 8/701
Matthew - Brain Thing - Class A Cuts: Vol. 2 - The Narcotix Lounge (Narcotix)
Lonnie Liston Smith - Desert Nights - Expansions (RCA)
Mr. Hermano - Moresque - Free As The Morning Sun (Disorient)
Kaidi Tatham - Betcha' Did - 12" (Bitasweet)
Minus 8 - Nonhuman (Big Bang Mix) - 12" (Compost)
Groove Armada - Little By Little - Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) (Pepper)
Titonton Duvante - Moisture - Selections For Intercourse (Residual)
James Hardway - Los Locos Inglis - 10" (Hydrogen Dukebox)
Nicola Conte & Gianluca Petrella - New Standards 12" (Schema)
Quincy Jones - Killer Joe - Walking In Space (A&M)
e:trinity - The Dreams That We Dream - Various Shades Of Blue (Pacific City)
Underwolves - Bird Song (Earthbound Remix) - 12" (JCR)
Blu Mar Ten - Special Thermometer - Cookin' Records: Soulfood (Cookin')
AtJazz - All That - Labfunk (Mantis)
Panoptica - Y Ahora - Panoptica (Certificate 18)
Frankman - Mellow Madness - Inhouse Vol. 1: Modern House Sounds From
Deepest Germany (EFA)
Maxwell - At The Party - Now (Columbia)
Raw Deluxe - Up At The Spot - Back To The Jungle (Reel Deal)
Akasha - Mescalin - Space Jazz (Quango)
Hypermodern Jazz 2000.5 - I'm Gonna Die If I Fall Asleep Again -
Heart Of Jazz: Jazz Is The Teacher (Pronto)
A Forest Mighty Black - Tides - Mellowdramatic (Compost)
**************************
"FreeFall" airs Tuesday evenings, 10pm-midnight PT on KUSF (90.3 FM)
San Francisco
Web: http://www.geocities.com/davidbassin/freefall.html
"FreeFall" archives are available 24/7 at Live365.com:
Last week's show:
56K: http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=bassyd
T1/Cable/DSL:
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=davidbassin
Two weeks ago:
56K: http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=dbassin
**************************
"FreeFall" thanks the following underwriters for their support:
Akoo (http://www.akoo.com) - makers of KIMA: the wireless device
that allows you to listen to Internet broadcasts on your home stereo,
Live365.com (http://www.live365.com) - Radio Revolution: where you
take control of the airwaves.
Amoeba Music (http://www.amoebamusic.com) - The largest independent
record stores in the U.S.
V2 Music (http://v2music.com) - the home of Moby, Ian Pooley, Nitin
Sawhney, Etienne De Crecy, Rinocerose and many more.....
--"It's pretty clear now that what looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is, in reality, just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness." - Jerry Garcia
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Aug 14 2001 - 10:44:06 CEST