FC: Charles Platt replies to RIAA, SoundExchange on webcasting fees

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:

"RIAA, SoundExchange on Library of Congress webcasting decision"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03564.html

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Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 17:09:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <cp () panix com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Cc: politech () politechbot com
Subject: Re: FC: RIAA, SoundExchange on Library of Congress webcasting decision

The reaction to the Librarian of Congress decision, from organizations
that purport to represent the interests of musicians, is predictable and
doctrinaire. Since they make no reference to the discussions and
calculations that we have seen, demonstrating that the scale of demanded
royalties was unreasonable and unworkable, I conclude they have no real
interest in being reasonable. I believe the distrust of Web-based content
distribution is so mindless and intense, the real desire is to eliminate
it--somehow. Making it illegal is one way; making it uneconomic is
another.

Recently I became a subscriber to XM Radio, the satellite-based nationwide
music broadcasting system. Since this service broadcasts 100 channels to a
subscription base that is currently well below half a million listeners, I
would guess that a channel has maybe 1000 listeners at any one time.
This is comparable to a webcasting music service. Yet I have seen no
reports of unreasonable demands for royalties for XM Radio, even though it
broadcasts a wide range of music in better-than-web quality, without
commercial interruptions (i.e. very easy to tape).

I have to assume that because XM Radio is a system which seems familiar to
the music industry (it is a centrally-controlled broadcasting system), it
rouses less fear than the egalitarian web-based systems; and fear is the
real issue, here. Fear of technology, and fear of consumers being allowed
to control technology. A fair deal for musicians has nothing to do with
it.




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