FC: Congresscritters urge lower webcasting music rates

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

Here's the letter from webcasters (my version of Word couldn't open it, but 
it is a bit-for-bit copy of what I received):
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/webcaster.music.letter.042202.doc

Here's the letter from members of Congress (WARNING: 1.8 MB):
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/congress.music.letter.042202.pdf.gz

Background from Politech archives:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=carp

-Declan

---

    CALIFORNIA WEBCASTERS ASK CONGRESS     TO SAVE INTERNET RADIO
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Los Angeles - Twenty Members of Congress today including four from
    California in response to an arbitration panels recommendation of
    sound recording royalties for webcasters, urged the U.S. Library of
    Congress and the Copyright Office to ensure that the royalties do not
    devastate the webcast industry.  Executives from six California-based
    Internet radio companies asked the California Congressional delegation
    to support a fair royalty regime for Internet radio, as the current
    rate being proposed, webcasters say, would put them out of business.


    Representatives Lofgren, Honda, Lantos and Eshoo have taken a stand
    for webcasters today, said Val Starr of Choice Radio
    (www.choiceradio.com) a multi-channel webcaster located in San Bruno,
    California, And more importantly they are supporting music-loving
    consumers in California who want to access diverse music and culture
    on the Internet.


    The California webcasting community's opposition against the
    arbitrators proposal has widespread support. Thousands of webcasters
    and consumers have recently appealed to the Congress and the Register
    of Copyrights, who is authorized to review (and possibly reject) the
    proposed royalty rate.


    The proposed fees would definitely put us out of business," said Bill
    Goldsmith, the owner of popular Paradise, California based adult rock
    station RadioParadise.com (www.radioparadise.com). "If that happens,
    everyone loses: our listeners, the artists we play, and the record
    labels themselves.  We'd see two years of hard work and sacrifice go
    right down the drain.


    Webcasters want to pay royalties to recording artists, added David
    Landis, of Ultimate-80s, an all 1980s music format webcaster based in
    Los Angeles, CA (www.ultimate80s.com) But if super-high rates cause us
    to shut down, there will be no music, no royalties paid, and no money
    going to California recording artists.


    Goldsmith cautions against believing the press releases from the
    record industry which try to portray the fees as being affordable. "If
    you do the math, you'll see that not one webcaster - large or small -
    can cover these fees with their present levels of income."


    Both the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News have issued
    stinging editorials rejecting the proposal and urging the Register of
    Copyrights to adopt a more reasonable approach.


    Several members of Congress from California are on the House and
    Senate Judiciary Committees in Washington, said Choice Radios Starr.
    Hopefully, Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Howard Berman,
    who are senior members of those Committees, will feel our local
    industrys pain and recognize that the demise of small webcasters is
    bad for the Internet, bad for consumers and bad for recording
    artists.


    California is the birthplace of new media and a haven for cultural
    diversity, said Zack Zalon of Los Angeles, CAs Radio Free Virgin
    (www.radiofreevirgin.com), a webcasting station offering over 40
    channels of various genres of music.  California lawmakers must
    support the independence, diversity and creativity that online radio
    represents. Furthermore, in the absence of legitimate entertainment
    options such as online radio, pirate services will flourish and deny
    artists the dues that were all fighting for.


    Contact:       David Landis at Ultimate-80s (323)782-8008

                   Bill Goldsmith at Radio Paradise
    (530)872-4993,(530)514-3173

                Zack Zalon of Radio Free Virgin (323) 904-6155

                Val Starr at Choice Radio (650) 872-2364

                Rusty Hodge at Soma FM (415) 826-9500

                      John Jeffrey at Live 365 (650)345-7400, ext. 107
    




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sign this pro-therapeutic cloning petition: http://www.franklinsociety.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------------