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In Case You Missed It: Radio Fairness Act, RIAA Under Attack, Strikes Back, The Lost Boys
Here's the stuff you ought to know:
First of all, I'd like to point out a great and easy way for you,
as an independent musician, to take part in saving Internet
radio. It's called the Internet Radio Fairness Act, a bill
introduced in the US House of Representatives that gives small
webcasters a chance to survive the newly imposed webcasting
rates. The bill exempts small webcasters (those that generate
under six million dollars in gross revenue) from the new fees.
The legislation does not seek to eliminate royalties paid to
artists by Internet radio stations, it only attempts to ensure
that fair and reasonable royalty rates are set to allow Internet
radio stations to survive. It will take you two minutes to fill
out the form and email it (via efax) to your state
representative. It's never been so easy to get involved! See
www.voiceofwebcasters.org for more information.
In some of the most ironic news from the last two weeks, there
was a temporary take over of the RIAA (Recording Industry
Association of America) web site by hackers. The RIAA, who is
leading the charge against illegal file sharing and piracy
rampant on the Internet, must have been quite embarrassed to find
their web site defaced in such a subtle, yet humorous manner. The
Intruders posted a new index page on the RIAA site offering a
link to free music downloads with a note that "Piracy can be
beneficial to the music industry." There was also a link to "find
information on giant monkeys." For those of you who are curious,
you can see a full-size image of the hacked index page at
http://minordamage.com/riaa_hack.jpg.
The RIAA is taking a lot of heat these days, and not only because
of the somewhat overstated perception that they are big bad
bullies taking all the fun out of free music on the Internet.
Recently, the RIAA sent a subpoena ordering Verizon to turn over
information about one of its subscribers, an individual the RIAA
wants to sue for illegally trading hundreds of songs over the
Internet. Verizon has refused to comply, and a dozen consumer
groups including Consumer Alert, the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, and National Consumers League have filed a
brief in federal court arguing that the RIAA's request is
unconstitutional, and that the basis of their subpoena violates
Americans' right to be anonymous online. The result of this very
well-publicized fight is a huge publicity win for Verizon, who
have positioned themselves as a strong 'defender of consumer
privacy,' while the RIAA, of course, is made once again to look
like a tyrant.
The RIAA did get a big win, however, at least from a financial
standpoint. A jury in Los Angeles awarded the RIAA $136 million
in damages against a California CD manufacturing plant for
copyright infringement. It is one of the largest judgments ever
rendered in a copyright case. I guess if you have this kind of
money, who needs friends?
We live in very interesting times.
Finally, in a must-read article which should once again make you
ask yourself the question 'Do I really want a major label deal?,'
the New York Times does an in-depth analysis of how the
Backstreet Boys, who have sold more than 65 million albums around
the world, lost control of their careers and find themselves
to be yesterday's news. Read it and marvel at the workings of the
music biz machine.
Internet Radio Fairness Act (Support this Bill! Takes 2 minutes)
RIAA Web Site Hacked, Defaced, Taken Offline
And *They* Want To Protect *Us*?
File-Swapping Foes Exert P2P Pressure
Music Pirate Fined $136 Million
The Lost Boys: How A Pop Sensation Came Undone
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