Previous Politech message: "RIAA, SoundExchange on Library of Congress webcasting decision" http://www.politechbot.com/p-03564.html --- Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 17:09:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <cpat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Cc: politechat_private Subject: Re: FC: RIAA, SoundExchange on Library of Congress webcasting decision The reaction to the Librarian of Congress decision, from organizations that purport to represent the interests of musicians, is predictable and doctrinaire. Since they make no reference to the discussions and calculations that we have seen, demonstrating that the scale of demanded royalties was unreasonable and unworkable, I conclude they have no real interest in being reasonable. I believe the distrust of Web-based content distribution is so mindless and intense, the real desire is to eliminate it--somehow. Making it illegal is one way; making it uneconomic is another. Recently I became a subscriber to XM Radio, the satellite-based nationwide music broadcasting system. Since this service broadcasts 100 channels to a subscription base that is currently well below half a million listeners, I would guess that a channel has maybe 1000 listeners at any one time. This is comparable to a webcasting music service. Yet I have seen no reports of unreasonable demands for royalties for XM Radio, even though it broadcasts a wide range of music in better-than-web quality, without commercial interruptions (i.e. very easy to tape). I have to assume that because XM Radio is a system which seems familiar to the music industry (it is a centrally-controlled broadcasting system), it rouses less fear than the egalitarian web-based systems; and fear is the real issue, here. Fear of technology, and fear of consumers being allowed to control technology. A fair deal for musicians has nothing to do with it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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