IP: Open Letter From Harvey Reid About Internet Radio (April 2002)

[David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: "H. Reid" <hreid () woodpecker com>
Date: Sun, 5 May 2002 13:48:24 
To: farber () CIS UPENN EDU
Subject: Open Letter From Harvey Reid About Internet Radio (April 2002)

This is a general letter from me (independent musician Harvey Reid) 
to everyone in my e-mail list. I hope you take a couple minutes to 
read this. (I have also posted it on the web at 
http://www.woodpecker.com/writing/essays/carp_letter.html )It's 
important to the future of internet radio, and if you like music you 
should look at this, even if you don't yet listen to internet radio 
yourself. As a musician who owns my own music and own my own record 
label, I don't see the viewpoint of artists like me being presented 
anywhere in discussions of this issue. This is more than just a 
general "wake up" letter about the problem; I am specifically 
suggesting here that there are many of us who own our own music who 
want it played on the internet, and who don't feel that the RIAA is 
acting on our behalf when they claim to represent "The Record Labels."
HARVEY REID

----------------------------------------------------
Open Letter From Harvey Reid About Internet Radio

Those of us in the independent music community (musicians and 
listeners both) may need to wake up and take some action to protect 
the existence of internet radio, and maybe as soon as May 20. This is 
a real situation, and not an internet hoax. I have been following 
this story for months and the time is now.

Almost a year ago, in the wake of the Napster mess, the major record 
labels started making moves to try to get the courts to classify 
internet radio as the same as digital file trading, and have now made 
a serious move that, if successful, will essentially stamp it out by 
applying hefty fees to broadcasters, PAYABLE TO RECORD COMPANIES, (in 
addition to ASCAP and BMI fees) and retroactive to 1998. The small 
internet broadcasters feel certain that they will be put out of 
business by these fees if it happens, since none of their operations 
are particularly profitable in the first place. The deadline is May 
20, when The Copyright Office votes on whether to apply this fee, 
known as CARP. There are a lot of articles on the web right now about 
this, that detail it carefullly, and if you doubt me or want to learn 
some details, please go read them. (At the bottom of this e-mail are 
many more links.)

http://www.saveinternetradio.org/   (They have specific instructions 
of how you can send a letter, fax or e-mail to Congress)

http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/26/web_radio/index.html
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,44416,00.html
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,,3_1007651,00.html

THE LOWDOWN
Unlike a lot of complicated music business stuff, this is simple: a 
lot of us, specifically independent musicians and small record 
labels, view internet radio as desirable, and do not want it 
squashed. Unlike major labels, who have stated that they do not want 
their music played on internet radio, many of us want it.

We need to do 2 vital things and do them quickly: 1) prevent the 
retroactive part of the fee from being levied, and 2)  band together 
and form a coalition, and offer alternative music to internet radio 
in a way that they can afford. (I have some specific ideas not 
described here.) We independents have been squeezed out of most media 
and airplay, and the ability of anyone on earth with an internet 
connection to listen to music "broadcast" anywhere else on earth is a 
far better way to discover, propagate and enjoy new music than hoping 
you are in the signal range of a radio station that might have a DJ 
playing interesting music. If one DJ anywhere is playing good 
Bluegrass or Polkas on the internet, we can all listen to it.

WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT
As an independent musician who is being shoved ever further out of 
airplay for my recorded music, I look to internet radio as one of the 
best (and one of the few) remaining ways for my work to be heard. 
Most internet radio uses a streaming audio format similar to Real 
Audio, which is lower quaility than a cassette, and certainly not the 
"perfect digital copy" that the record labels claim to fear. The 
primary thing that people use internet radio for is to listen, and 
learn about artists they haven't heard. It's my belief that if they 
hear me on internet radio, they will be more likely to buy my CD's 
and come to my concerts.

If we contact the internet webcasters individually there will be 
little impact, but I am suggesting that if a large number of us who 
control our own work felt similarly and act as a group, it would be a 
newsworthy and possibly effective way to confront the situation. It 
could mean that internet radio, which has huge potential to spread 
music around the world, can have a reason to ONLY play truly 
independent music. The story of what we are doing might also help us 
get exposure and press, and call attention to the tens or even 
hundreds of thousands of us who make and sell our own music and don't 
want to live by rules dictated by major labels. This story can also 
help listeners and webcasters learn about and access the vast source 
of musical content that exists outside the control of the major 
labels.

If I just announce that my catalog of 15 albums I own is available, 
that is a small story, but if hundreds or thousands of us do it at 
once, it could be a big story, and maybe a media break we have all 
been waiting for. The battle between ASCAP and BMI in the 1940's had 
a huge effect on music of the day, and suddenly changed what people 
could hear. This is very likely one of those rare times in history 
when an entrenched system suddenly changes. If the major labels don't 
want their content played on internet radio, fine, let them take 
their ball and go home,and let The People play and listen what they 
want on the internet, especially artists who want to be played there. 
As I see it, this is quite different from the Napster situation.

I recommend that individuals, small labels, and organizations that 
represent them (such as IBMA and Folk Alliance) look into this 
seriously, perhaps take a leadership role in this matter, and even 
communicate with other established groups to build an even more 
united front. We can join as a common voice to offer our recorded 
works to webcasters be played on the internet without them fearing 
they will be sued or charged outrageous fees. I am sure that the 
music industry has no idea how many independent artists and labels 
are out there, and how much interesting music might be available to 
broadcasters and to the listeners if the major labels refuse access 
to their catalogs. It would be an exciting and healthy thing actually 
if all of a sudden you HAD to play real independent music on the web.

BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION (QUICKLY!) WHAT WE NEED TO DO --

* Learn all we can about what is going on, and discuss this with each 
other, and figure out who is going to do what. People with leadership 
ability and resources need to step forward, and it won't be that much 
work, and it does not look like a long, drawn out battle. It even 
looks like it could be quick and simple and decisive. (Let's hope.) 
This is finally an issue that hits close to home and that you can 
easily explain to your mom.

* Put together e-mail lists of our friends, colleagues and fans, and 
circulate the news about what is going on. The same media 
conglomerates that control the record labels control the radio and 
news, and it's not a coincidence that there has been so little press 
about this.

* Prepare and circulate a petition (probably by e-mail, due to 
anthrax fears) to encourage our lawmakers either not to levy the fee, 
or at least to not apply the retroactive part. (See below)

* Establish a dialog immediately with internet broadcasters, and let 
them know that there are a lot of us who are willing to be reasonable 
with them, and let them know there may be something for them to play 
on May 21. We can't wait until then to start discussions.

* Prepare a web page sign-up form where those of us who own a body of 
music can stand up and be counted and indicate our willingness to 
join in a negotiation with internet radio groups, so they can know 
that they might have a significant body of music to choose from in 
their broadcasts.

* If you own some recorded music, think hard about whether you want 
to join the coalition, and even harder about whether you want the 
major labels to even be able to impose their CARP fees, as long as 
they are not retroactive. If the majors get out of the game, we 
independents can have the internet radio to ourselves, and we can 
make an end run around them, and I smile when I contemplate this 
scenario. There is a huge amount of independent stuff out there, and 
contrary to some people's belief, it is not of inferior quality to 
major label stuff. (We might have to make some kind of a list of 
examples of what artists are out there making good music as an 
example to those who doubt.)

* Prepare some kind of an agreement (perhaps someone could put a 
lawyer on this) between independent artists/labels and internet 
radio. This will be tricky, and both sides will have to meet certain 
criteria that are acceptable to the other. The small labels want to 
make sure the broadcasters are really acting like a radio station, 
and the webcasters will need to make sure the artists and small 
labels do indeed control the content they claim they do, and are 
willing to grant certain uses of it.

* Look into what happened to the money the record labels scammed the 
last time they pulled this same thing with Home Taping. There has 
been a small tax on blank media for 10 years now, ever since the 
record labels complained so loud in the 1980's that home taping was 
ruining their business. It would not surprise me to learn that that 
money was not properly accounted for or distributed. I am a small 
label, and I have never received a dime or heard of anyone who did.

* Alert the media and writers/journalists, since this is a good 
story, and they need to start following it right away and helping it 
along before the May 20 deadline.

Chordally yours,


Harvey Reid
Independent Recording Artist Since 1982
http://www.woodpecker.com

These links were sent to me, and contains many helpful links:


"How you can help" campaigns

http://www.radioparadise.com/ ?content=web_radio Radio Paradise

http://www.wizardfkap.com /Wizard Radio (new!)

http://www.kurthanson.com/ letter_to_copyright.asp Ultimate 80s, et al.

http://www.beethoven.com/copyrightnotice.asp Beethoven.com (new!)

http://www.streamingmagazine.com Streaming Magazine

http://www.musicianslobby.com/Musicians Lobby (new!)

http://www.radiocrow.com/Editorial/index.htm RadioCrow

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Ewillr/cb/sos/ Save-Our-Streams (new!)

http://www.cyberradio2000.com/extortion.htm CyberRadio2000

http://www.povradio.com/riaa_carp_facts.htm povradio (new!)

http://www.woxy.com/carp.html 97X

http://www.petitiononline.com/carp/petition.html Dublab (PetitionOnline)

http://femmefatale.nu/dmca/GloriaSenateTestimony.htm NWEZ (new!)

http://femmefatale.nu/dmca/letter.htm Femme Fatale

http://www.3wk.com/copyright.htm 3WK

http://209.57.80.48/spclreport/conxis.htm AudioGraphics

http://www.save-the-music.org /Save-the-Music.org

http://www.digmedia.org DiMA (coming soon?)

http://www.conxis.org ConXis (coming soon?)

http://www.nab.org NAB (coming soon?)

Message boards


 
Resources

http://www.loc.gov/copyright Copyright Office

http://www.congress.gov/ Congress.gov (official)

http://www.senate.gov Senate.gov (official)

http://www.congress.org

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/

http://www.petitiononline.com

http://www.internet-law-library.com /Internet-Law-Library (new!)

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/