Net Radio discussion at S&R
This past weekend, I did more writing in response to a post about the recent internet radio ruling at a site called Scholars and Rogues. I don’t know the site that well, I just happened to come across it while I was checking out blog posts on the subject of internet radio at Technorati. I don’t think enough is being said for the “other side” of the internet radio royalty ruling, and I mean those that don’t believe that internet broadcasters should be able to use the government to set royalty rates on music. Below you can read are the comments I wrote that best explain my position on this issue.
5. Darren - April 21, 2007
I don’t see how this ruling will stop internet radio.
What’s at question is who gets to play whose music and under what terms. Normally, a webcaster would have to obtain permission from the owners of any music they play. Whether you agree with it or not, this board is a way for webcasters to get around seeking permission and to play the music for a rate that the board sets. Even though the board may have changed their rates to a level that most webcasters can’t afford, webcasters still have the option of playing music if they obtain permission.
It may seem that is is unfair that the rates were hiked so high, but shouldn’t the people who own the music decide what the fair price is? It’s no different than if, for example, you set up a garage sale and tried to sell your computer for $1,000,000. People may laugh at you and nobody will buy the chair, but it’s *your* chair and you get to decide what it is worth *to you.* The same applies to the RIAA and all music they own. Whether one likes it or not, when a musician signs a contract with a big label to sell the rights to their music, the big label owns the music. And the big label gets to decide what they will charge for it.
No matter what the RIAA does, people are still free not to buy their music, musicians are free to give away their music instead of sell it to the RIAA, and webcasters are still free to play music of those that have given them permission.
8. Darren - April 21, 2007
Webcasters may believe the royalty rate was fair, but the owners of the music the webcasters were streaming did not. I believe that only those who own the content should get to decide the royalty rates that are charged for that content.
I don’t see a major difference between webcasters who think they should be able to publish music for free and those who are willing to pay last year’s royalty rates. One will pay the artist *something,* but both accept the premise that they should get to stream music without obtaining permission of the artist. If one really wants to stand for the rights of artists (or for all individuals, for that matter), they should reject that premise.
I think that the RIAA has made it pretty clear that they think webcasters should have to pay more to play the RIAA’s music. Therefore, they are raising their rates. Webcasters can take it or leave it.
11. Darren - April 21, 2007
The RIAA owns the rights to all music it purchases from the artist. Once the artist signs a contract that transfers the ownership rights from the artist to one of the music labels, the RIAA has the same rights to that music as if they created it themselves.
This actually is an extension of the artist’s right to own whatever he or she creates. Artists have the right to trade their product to anybody they want for any amount of money. If the government’s copyright board were to step in and take away the RIAA’s right to sell their product, it would be the same as if they took those same rights from the artists. The government would be telling the artist (or RIAA, or whomever else owns the music), “You may not sell your music for that rate, it’s too high. Internet broadcasters only want to give you 0.0001 cents per play, and what they want is more important than what you own.” Who really loses in this deal?
The RIAA is always made to be the bad guy, but the RIAA has one thing over webcasters that are pushing this “Save Internet Radio” campaign: The RIAA won’t take an artist’s property if he or she don’t want to sell it to the RIAA. The RIAA respects the rights of the artist, because it’s those same rights that allow the RIAA to function as a business at all. Webcasters, on the other hand, will try to compel the government to *force* content owners to sell their products at a lower rate. Webcasters are right in one respect: Only one side in this debate is really looking out for the rights of the artist.
20. Darren - April 22, 2007
[…]
That’s what the free market is really all about. It’s more than people buying and selling things for money; it’s also about respecting individuals and their rights to their lives and their property. We might not like or agree with what people do with their stuff, but we have to respect their rights. That’s the principle I’m talking about. If you think that streaming music over the internet is important enough to violate those rights, then we don’t agree in principle at all.
[…]
Tags: [intellectual property, internet radio, riaa, royalty rates]Comments
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