RIAA wants to kill anything that stops us from purchasing CDs from the store - they want things to go back to the 80's and 90's. Just like Verizon wants Vonage and Comcast and other VOIP providers to go away so we have no choice but to purchase from them at their unreasonably high prices. When will they get the idea we won't go backward. If they succeed in killing these guys off someone else will just come behind them and will find a way to get around their stupid lies.
The patent office should NEVER have given a patent on sending bits across the network. We have patents that are way too broad. The same is true for webcasting. Get real. -- Edward Fultz (978) 807-4225 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Michael Lax" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > This is just so postiviely slimey as to be beyond description. I'm not > really surprised, as it seemed very clear this board's only interest was > doing whatever RIAA and their subsidiaries paid them.I mean told them..to > do. They've manipulated the system perfectly - even if the ruling is > appealed, or Congress works around this nonsense, RIAA's cronies will have > years to kill the market for webcasters. > > > > Ugh. > > > > Mike Lax > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill > Gamble > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 7:20 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Treo] Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters > > > > Sent from Express News > LAS VEGAS - Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a > panel of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that > hiked the royalties they must pay to record companies and artists. > > A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations, > small startup companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like > Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, had objected to the new royalties > set March 2, saying they would force a drastic cutback in services that are > now enjoyed by some 50 million people. > > In the latest ruling, the Copyright Royalty Board judges denied all motions > for rehearing and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the > new royalties will have to be collected. > > However, they did grant leniency on one point, allowing the webcasters to > calculate fees by average listening hours, as they had been, as opposed to > the new system of charging a royalty each time every song is heard by an > online listener. That exemption counts for last year and this year. After > that, the new per-song, per-listener fee structure goes into effect. > > Many webcasters say the sharply higher royalty fees will put them out of > business. Talk of the ruling dominated a one-day meeting of Internet radio > broadcasters being held in Las Vegas alongside the annual conference of the > National Association of Broadcasters, a group representing local radio and > TV stations. > > N. Mark Lam, the CEO of Live365 Inc., a privately held company that > aggregates audio streams from thousands of radio stations and other small > webcasters, said that under the new royalty rules, "there is no industry." > > Lam, who joined the venture capital-backed company about two years ago, > said Live365 just barely broke even last year and had about 4.5 million > unique listeners every month. > > Also on Monday, several Internet radio broadcasters announced a campaign to > raise awareness of the issue and encourage listeners to write to their > representatives in Congress. > > Small broadcasters have received relief from Congress in the past, > benefiting from a law passed five years ago that gave them a break on > royalty rates. The legislation allowed them to pay about 12 percent of > their revenues instead of having to calculate per-song, per-hour rates like > larger companies had to. > > David Oxenford, a lawyer representing several webcasters, said the next > step was likely an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of > Columbia Circuit, but he noted that process could take at least a year. > Meanwhile, he said, the prospects of successfully getting a court to block > the decision of the royalty board judges is slim. > > SoundExchange, a nonprofit group that collects the online royalties from > webcasters and distributes them to record labels and artists, hailed the > ruling in a statement and said it looked forward to working with Internet > radio companies in order to ensure that the industry succeeds. > > Jonathan Potter, the head of the Digital Media Association, which > represents several large webcasters including Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft > Corp.'s MSN network, said his group was not currently in talks with > SoundExchange but may be soon. He said his group and other webcasters would > be turning to Congress, where he said he sees "a lot of legislative > support." > > The royalties in question only cover digital transmissions of music, and > don't apply to terrestrial radio stations, as traditional radio play is > seen as a benefit for record labels by promoting sales of recorded music. > Both digital broadcasters and regular radio stations pay a separate royalty > to the publishers and composers of music. > > --- > By SETH SUTEL AP Business Writer > ______ > Bill > O-Qwa Tangin Wann > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
