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thought this might be of interest -------- Original Message -------- From: "Suzanne Glass" <suzanne@indie-music.com> Subject: Action Alert - Musicians & Webcasting ACTION ALERT - MUSICIANS AND WEBCASTING STATUS: URGENT MUSICIANS LOBBY: http://www.musicianslobby.com/ Dear Fellow Independent Musicians and Business Professionals, Your help is needed immediately to protect independent webcasting! The US Copyright Office has recently proposed royalty rates for the webcasting of music that will put many of these stations out of the webcasting business! As an indie musician or business person, your best source of airplay will always be small, non-commercial broadcasters like college radio or independent web broadcast sites. Unfortunately, the new proposed royalty rates are too high for most small broadcasters, who will be forced to cease webcasting. In addition, the new rules also require broadcasters to post a dizzying array of information about each piece of music played, such as artist name, album name, record company release number, start time of play, end time of play, how many people are listening, and many, many other bits of data. All of this is required to be posted online in real time - during the play of the song. The technological and human resources to do this will be expensive, and small players will be forced out. How Did All This Happen? The new regulations and royalties were mandated by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995. The copyright office was charged with recommending the specifics of the new rules. While this new royalty would be paid partly to musicians (a good thing!), it is becoming increasingly obvious that the rules will further consolidate the broadcast industry. Independents will be forced out, while huge conglomerates like Clear Channel will reap the monopoly benefits. Unfortunately, few indie artists can expect airplay from Clear Channel. We need the small independent outlets. What Can You Do? You can submit comments about these proposed rules. The copyright office does not make it easy to submit, asking that you submit 11 copies of your comments, and send them in by snail mail. To make responding easier for you, we have included a sample letter to get you started, as well as the correct mailing address to send your comments. Simply edit the letter, print and sign 11 copies, and mail them quickly! If you don't want to edit the letter, simply send it as is. It is important that we flood the copyright office with comments immediately to have a chance of reversing this troubling situation! The deadline is March 11, 2002. Act Now! ==> Links to Additional Information http://www.radiohorizon.com/index.php3?fcn=displayarticle&id=2424 http://www.loc.gov/copyright/carp/webcasting_rates.html http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,50551,00.html http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Ewillr/cb//sos/ ==> What Musicians Should Know About Webcasting By Suzanne Glass, Indie-Music.com suzanne@indie-music.com Have you familiarized yourself with the details of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)? This is a law passed in 1998 that attempts to address the issue of artist royalties in a world of digital distribution. While the idea of the DMCA was to protect copyright in the digital realm, the poorly written legislation threatens to crush webcasting, especially at college and community stations - that is, the stations most likely to play YOUR music. In regular broadcast radio, stations pay a royalty to songwriters for the use of their songs. For webcasting, under the new DMCA, stations will be required to pay an additional royalty to performers. While this sounds great at first, a further peek into the DMCA reveals a downside that the new payment does not make up for. First, fees for stations are expected to increase from a couple hundred dollars to $10,000 - 20,000. The fees alone will wipe out many small community and college stations. In fact, the only stations who will be able to afford to webcast will be the big corporate radio companies like Clear Channel, Radio One, or Citadel. In addition, the DMCA applies programming restrictions, limiting the ability of DJs to play the songs they like. For instance, you can only play 3 songs by any one artist in a 3 hour period. This wipes out any "box set" type of shows which might feature an artist for a whole hour or play an entire CD during the show. If the above weren't enough, the DMCA also makes demanding technical requirements for webcasting. Each song must have its complete title and credits listed online, in real-time, while the song airs. And for the listener, the DMCA will prohibit requests! As a final blow, the law as written requires stations to agree to pay "back royalties" retroactive till 1998, when the DMCA was passed. Problem is, the royalty rate has yet to be set, so stations have no idea what their final bill will be. This unknown has already caused many small stations to stop webcasting. As an independent musician, it's in your best interest to keep these smaller stations (the ones that actually PLAY indie music) on the air. We need MORE variety, not more "X" corporate rock stations. ==> Copyright Office Info SUMMARY: The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking on the requirements for giving copyright owners reasonable notice of the use of their works for sound recordings under statutory license and for how records of such use shall be kept and made available to copyright owners. The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act enacted in 1998 require the Office to adopt these regulations. DATES: Comments are due by March 11, 2002. Reply comments are due by April 8, 2002. ADDRESSES: An original and ten copies of any comment shall be delivered to: Office of the General Counsel, Copyright Office, James Madison Building, Room LM-403, First and Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC; or mailed to: Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP), P.O. Box 70977, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 20024-0977. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David O. Carson, General Counsel, or Tanya Sandros, Senior Attorney, Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, P.O. Box 70977, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 20024-0977. Telephone: (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 252-3423. Text http://www.loc.gov/copyright/fedreg/2002/67fr5761.html PDF http://www.loc.gov/copyright/fedreg/2002/67fr5761.pdf Copyright Office URL http://www.loc.gov/copyright ==> Send 11 Copies of Comments To: David O. Carson, General Counsel Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) P.O. Box 70977, Southwest Station Washington, DC 20024-0977 ==> Sample Letter February 26, 2002 David O. Carson, General Counsel Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) P.O. Box 70977, Southwest Station Washington, DC 20024-0977 Dear Mr. Carson, I am writing to submit comments on the proposed rulemaking for webcasting rates. As a musician and copyright owner, I fully support the rights of parties to protect their intellectual property. However, the royalty rates as currently proposed will have a negative and injurious effect on my ability to make a living. I am an independent musician, which means I am not signed to a major record label, and instead operate as a small business. Crucial to the success of my business is the ability to receive radio and web broadcasts of my music. If I cannot get my product to the market through airplay, my business may not survive. It has become harder and harder for independent musicians to receive this crucial airplay in the last several years due to massive consolidation in the broadcast industry, and the proposed webcasting royalty rates will future complicate this problem. Because of budgetary concerns, independent musicians typically receive airplay only from independent broadcast sources that are willing to experiment with "unknown" music. These broadcast outlets, both non-commercial/college radio and internet webcast sites, are most often small micro-businesses - the very businesses that will not be able to afford the proposed webcasting rates. Additionally, the reporting requirements will beyond the abilities of the small broadcasters, both technically and financially. The proposed rates are likely to drive many small broadcasters out of business, while only large broadcasters will be able to afford the webcasting royalty fees. The negative effects of this situation are difficult to overestimate for the small business musician, and for this reason, I ask you to reconsider the proposed royalty rates and bring them down to a level that small broadcasters can afford. Sincerely, Your Name MUSICIANS LOBBY: http://www.musicianslobby.com/ Musicians Lobby is a free service for musicians brought to you by Indie-Music.com http://www.indie-music.com -- ******************************************** Indie-Music.com ~ Save Time & Promote Your Music Free! 1000's of contacts for musicians, no cost, no hassles. **** Where Serious Musicians Surf **** <http://Indie-Music.com> ******************************************** ------------------------ Yahoo! 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