This Week in News: Friday, June 22, 2007

Radio

Doyle Bill Would Encourage New Low-Power FM Stations
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle introduced a bill on June 21 that could prompt hundreds of new low-power FM radio stations to sprout up around the country, including the Pittsburgh region. The bill would relax a restraint that prevents new stations from securing spots close to existing full-power commercial stations on the radio dial.
by Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

New Measures Could Bring Influx of New Noncommercial Radio to the Airwaves
Hannah Sassaman of the Prometheus Radio Project joins us to talk about a series of developments that could result in the creation of hundreds – if not thousands – of new noncommercial radio stations. Legislation has been introduced that would allow the FCC to grant more licenses to low-power FM stations.
Democracy Now!, June 22, 2007

Clear Channel to Indy Musicians: Swap Exposure for Royalties
A settlement between the Federal Communications Commission and major broadcasters requires them to commit a certain amount of airtime to independent musicians. But Clear Channel Communications, one of the four broadcasters that settled, is asking independent musicians to agree to forgo royalties in exchange for the exposure.
by Neda Ulaby, National Public Radio, June 21, 2007

Conservatives Dominate the Airwaves
According to a new report that indicates conservatives dominate talk radio, "92 percent of the political talk radio programming on the stations owned by the top five commercial station owners was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive."
Center for American Progress, June 21, 2007

Webcasting

Web Broadcasters Plan Protests Over Royalties
Live 365 Inc., Pandora Media Inc., and Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Music are going silent on June 26 in a "Day of Silence" to protest the increase the new royalty rates set to go into effect on July 15.
by Sarah McBride, Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2007

Day of Silence Nears, AOL, Clear Channel Remain Aloof
A broadening number of internet-based radio stations are now joining the June 26 Day of Silence, part of a larger protest against imminent royalty increases. The group now includes heavyweights like Yahoo, RealNetworks and MTV Networks, though titans AOL and Clear Channel Radio remain aloof.
Digital Music News, June 21, 2007

Webcasting Rate Hearing in Congress, Next Thursday
On Thursday, June 28, the House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing entitled 'Assessing the Impact of the Copyright Royalty Board Decision to Increase Royalty Rates on Recording Artists and Webcasters.' The hearing will examine the decision to raise rates, the impact it will have on Internet Radio, and the challenges of providing fair compensation for copyright owners while maintaining a business environment that allow small Webcasters to thrive.
Radio and Internet Newsletter, June 21, 2007

Net Neutrality

An Explosion of Comment on Net Neutrality
In the three-month period for public comment on Net Neutrality, over 11,000 people filed comments to the FCC, including private citizens, lobbyists, and companies like Google. Most of the comments favored the preservation of an open internet
ZDNet, June 21, 2007

FCC Commissioner Takes Brave Stand for Open Access
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein announced his support for open access internet and its importance in fostering competition.
by Timothy Carr, Huffington Post, June 21, 2007

Google Files Net Neutrality Pleas with FCC
Google filed 47 pages of comments on Net Neutrality last Friday. In the comments, Google outlines a list of what the company believes is okay and not okay for broadband providers to do in controlling the internet.
by Jason Lee Miller, WebProNews, June 19, 2007

2008 Candidates Split Over 'Net Neutrality'
Net Neutrality is a hot issue in the 2008 Presidential Election. Find out what the candidates are saying about it and if they're taking action in this article from NewsMax.
by John Mercurio, NewsMax.com, June 19, 2007

Music Industry

V2 Inks With Peter Gabriel's We7 for DRM Free Ad Supported Downloads
The download service We7 is offering free (and DRM-free) downloads. "The advertising attached to the music will ensure that artists receive royalties and consumers get and can share DRM-free music. After a period of time users will have the choice to have the track ad free and there's an option to buy the track ad free at a normal price."
Hypebot, June 20, 2007

The Record Industry's Decline
Rolling Stone examines the fall of the record industry in this two-part article.
by Brian Hiatt and Evan Serpick, Rolling Stone, June 19, 2007; Part 1 and Part 2

Politics and Hip-Hop Are Doing a Mash-Up
Newsweek’s Steven Levy discusses the legality of creating mash-ups with Congressman Mike Doyle and mash-up artist Greg Gillis (Girl Talk).
by Steven Levy, Newsweek, June 25, 2007 issue

Can Rap Regain Its Crown?
Although the entire record industry has been suffering as of late, sales of rap records have suffered more. Possible factors for rap's decline include the emphasis of selling singles over albums and the overall decrease of quality in recent rap.
by Steve Jones, USA Today, June 15, 2007

Copyright Law

WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Talks Break Down
At issue at this meeting was a proposal to increase the rights of broadcasters and cablecasters over their transmissions in order to prevent signal theft. The discussion stalled progressively as objections and alternatives to language in the chair’s unofficial draft treaty proposal piled up, sources said. Read more about the disagreements here:
IP Watch, June 22, 2007

Other

Required Reading: the Next 10 Years
Intellectual property and copyright law pioneer Larry Lessig announced that he is stepping back from his role in the copyright law community to focus on "corruption" related issues.
by Larry Lessig, Lessig Blog, June 19, 2007