Mary Wehmeier: CBDTPA - Intellectual Property Laws

I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 01:15:39 GMT

I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself

A source called me today to to tell me that the following was a half-page ad in the middle of the New York Times Business Section.

A BIG FAT THANKS TO RECORD EXECS
Thank you for fighting the good fight against Internet MP3 file-swapping. Because of you, millions of kids will stop wasting time listening to new music and seeking out new bands. No more spreading the word to complete strangers about your artists. No more harmful exposure to thousands of bands via Internet radio, either. With any luck, they wont talk about music at all. You probably knew you'd make millions embracing the technology. After all, the kids swapping were like ten times more likely to buy CD's, making your cause all the more admirable. It must have cost a bundle in future revenue, but don't worry - computers are just a fad anyway, and the Internet is just plain stupid. --Rolling Stone

Sometimes the source of the message is as powerful as the words. This one is a home run.

The Devils in the Details: Ghostwriter Sues

Sat, 31 Aug 2002 07:05:05 GMT

The Devils in the Details: Ghostwriter Sues

DETROIT (AP) - A Michigan composer has filed a copyright claim for music used for episodes of the TV programs "Xena: Warrior Princess,""Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Young Hercules." Dan Kolton, 43, of Ferndale, (Michigan) was a ghostwriter for Oakland County resident Joe LoDuca. The music lists LoDuca as the only composer.

Now Kolton wants credit, legal copyright and the right to collect royalties on the music he wrote. Kolton said Wednesday that when he began working on the TV shows, it wasn't clear that he would be a ghostwriter and would not be credited. He was paid for his work, he said, but there was no written agreement about compensation. "I didn't realize until fairly recently that I had a legal way to deal with what I thought was right in the first place," Kolton said. "I didn't realize there was anything I could do about it." (more...)

Well Janis, Here's Your Proof

Fri, 23 Aug 2002 22:22:21 GMT

Well Janis, Here's Your Proof

I've always respected Janis Ian for her talent, brains and her family devotion, long before she took the music industry on with her article called "THE INTERNET DEBACLE - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW," which she wrote of the niche trade Performing Songwriter Magazine, in May 2002.

The article proved to the rest of the world, Janis Ian is an intellegent voice for the independent music industry as well as the older or seasoned talent who rarely gets airplay. She isn't the only professional musician and songwriter I know whom I have personally heard this from before. Janis' articles and the way she has conducted herself in this debate has also proved to me that Janis, like a number of seasoned music business folks, has more than her share of common sense. That makes you a jewel in this world Janis!

Yesterday Dave mentioned in Scripting News: The "SJ Merc interviews Janis Ian. "She credits Napster and its progeny with sparking renewed interest in her music, at a time when she can't be heard on contemporary-hit-obsessed radio stations. And she says her decision to offer free music downloads had done the opposite of what the industry predicts it would do: It caused a 300 percent spike in merchandise sales."

Well I'm not surprised. However it was difficult to prove. Or the recording industry called it a freak accident. Well is appears it isn't.

Today I hand you the proof Janis is right-- Bill Rose and the crew over at Arbitron and the Edison Media Research group has released the news that they have just completed a study which shows as broadband connections grow, the number of people who listen to Internet Radio is increasing. Those listeners are buying more CD's per year-- nearly double.

I don't know about you, but this type of proof makes the recording industry look more and more customer unfriendly.

More on this later.

Will They Listen?

Wed, 14 Aug 2002 10:57:12 GMT

Will They Listen?

It appears Andy Grove had something to say to lawmakers at The New Democrat Network's West Coast Retreat this week. Grove ask the lawmakers to hold off on legislation that would require digital rights management technology in new products and to think hard before passing legislation that would regulate 802.11 wireless technology. He asked them to develop a comprehensive policy on China--which he said was eclipsing Japan as Intel's second-largest market behind the United States. He also called the Telecommunications Act of 1996 a "big failure" and described a new Hollywood-backed anti-piracy bill as a "horrendous" piece of legislation.

From where I sit, Andy Grove is one of the only people in the industry who is actually speaking up for technology and innovation. I suspect that at times it does not completely sit well with the rest of Intel's Corporate agenda of developing digital copywrite protection at a hardware level. The question du jour is: Where does Intel really stand?

CARP Sticks a Fork in Internet Radi

Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:53:48 GMT

The Devil is In the Details

CARP Sticks a Fork in Internet Radio.

Tonight it came to my attention that Kurt Hanson has been tracking the number of webcasters and internet radio stations going offline since the Final CARP Decision made by the Library of Congress on June 20, 2002. This decision issued a determination on proposed performance royalties webcasters will be forced to pay record companies and artists for the right to stream their music on the Internet. It is a fact of life that this royalty rate is so high that it will bankrupt the independant and college stations you have listened to in the past.

Here is the list of silenced stations by CARP as of July 11, 2002 (source Kurthanson.com)

3FM/Netherlands	All80s.com	AudioCandy.com
BlueMars.org	Celtic Heritage Webradio	Chez Whitey
Entercom stations	Good Time Oldies Radio	Greater Media stations
GrrlRadio	HitRadio.biz	Hot Hit Radio
IdahosCast.com	KDFC/San Francisco	KKDV/San Francisco
KOIT/San Francisco	KTRS/St. Louis	Lotus Radio stations
McClure stations	MonkeyRadio.org	MYNDFK.com
NetRockRadio.com	NextMedia stations	Perkigoth.com
Powerrocks.com	Progrock.com	Radio1/Netherlands
RadioCentral.com	Radio Free Akron	Radio Free BD
Radio Free Tiny Pineapple	RadioMaxMusic
RKNA: Aural Arcana	SavageRockRadio.com	Simmons Media stations
SomaFM.com	StarDogRadio.com	TagsTrance.com
The City Radio	therockfm.com	The Zoo
WAAF/Worchester	WMMR/Philadelphia	WOVRadio.com
XTC Radio	Yahoo! Radio stations

Public Stations now off line: KWJC-MO; WRSU-NJ; WERS-MA; KTSW-TX; WSUM-WI; WSTB-OH; WONB-OH; WXOU-MI; WZIP-OH; WUTK-TN; KDIC-IA; KETR-TX; WSBF-SC; WRMC-VT; KSDS-CA; WNYU-NY; WSUW-WI; WEVL-TN; KRCL-UT; WSRN-PA; KXCI-AZ; WUVT-VA; KSJS-CA; KDHX-MI; WPTS-PA; KBCS-WA; WMHW-MI; KBVR-OR; KXRJ-AR; WDWN-NY

Silenced iM Network affiliates: Zydeco to the Bone; Nuevo Wave-O; Jazzeteria; Altrok.com; Celtic to the Bone; Extra Smooth Symphonie; Melancholia; Qawwali-On-Demand; 60s RnB to the Bone; Just Classic Rock; All Top40 Hits; Piecemeal; Swing Central; Cafe Twilight; Jazz to the Bone; Drone Sickness; Gospel to the Bone; Truly Cool, Cool Jazz; 400 Years of Hits

Jazz to the Bone; Hot Bubblegum 100; Dream Chamber; Modern A Cappella; African to the Bone; Hillbilly Radio; Cajun N Country to the Bone; X-tra Energy Dance; World Intensity; New Orleans to the Bone; Modern Rock Hits; Rastaman's Reggae

MainLine Rock; Latin to the Bone; House Party; Love Field; Planet Musiquarium; The Breakbeat Jungle; Succubus; Bollywood; Club Reggae; Hyperspace; Murder, Betrayal and Redemption; Top RnB Hits; ChitrapatSangeet; Resonant Radio; Sweet Revenge

Female Voices; Old Dawg Country; EnginesOfReagan; Lovecats; Muddy Channel; Movie Music; Adventures In Radio; Truly Alternative; Alt Songsters to the Bone; Spacerant; Trance-ilvania; Vox Radium; 50s RnB to the Bone; Box O Bone's; Digitalis; darcade; Not AA Radio; Busted Heart Radio; Shuaku No Bi; Hillbilly Radio; Kickin' Kountry; Cyberspace Sonata; Solvent Loud Radio.

What can you do?

Congress leaves for Summer Recess July 26, the Senate leaves August 2, 2002: so time is short. A group of webcasters and industry trade groups have formed VOW Voice on Webcasters. The site is a common ground for people to gather information from a supposed central source. At the moment the site is lacking a considerable amount historical information prior to the CARP Decision, however it does have one jewel worth following--

It allows anyone to fax their U.S. Congressmen and Senators a letter regarding the silencing of Internet Radio for free. Pass this information along to your friends and associates, please.

CARP: Radio Stations Appeal Internet Royalty Decision

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 21:29:33 GMT

CARP: Radio Stations Appeal Internet Royalty Decision

Reuter's is reporting that the Radio stations have asked a federal appeals court to rule that they do not have to pay musicians and recording companies when they play music on the Internet because they do not pay royalties for regular over-the-air broadcasts.

The ball is now officially in play. The appeal was filed by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB,) and Bonneville International Corp., Clear Channel Communications Inc, Cox Radio Inc, Emmis Communications Corp, Entercom Communications Corp and Susquehanna Radio Corp. None of which has a record label, I believe.

The webcasters have not joined this appeal. Nor have they filed their own court case-- yet. I suspect it's coming very soon. RIAA has made no comment yet.

It is going to be a hot summer in the Court House this summer!

The Devil's in The Details: Intellectual Property and the Internet

Tue, 09 Jul 2002 22:45:23 GMT

The Devil's in The Details: Intellectual Property and the Internet

This is a collection of what's been happening over the past several days in the Intellectual Property - Internet World.

US Dept of Commerce: "On July 17, 2002, the Technology Administration will host a Public Workshop on Digital Entertainment and Rights Management. This Workshop will bring together leaders from the information technology and content industries to address the status of technical standards that provide the framework necessary to enable legitimate digital media distribution and the present state of strengths, weaknesses and availability of current and imminent technological solutions to protect digital content, barriers that are inhibiting movies, music and games from coming online. In preparation for this workshop, the Technology Administration invites public comment." We need to get the REAL PUBLIC to comment on this now.
The Final Rule and Order of the Library of Congress Copyright office on the Determination of Reasonable Rates and Terms for the Digital Performance of Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings was submitted to the Federal Register on Monday. As Doc says: "Here's the tea. There's the harbor. Have at it." All I can add is: Amen.
Rep. Rick Boucher chided the music industry in his keynote speech from Jupiter's PlugIn conference. He spoke about multiple anti-customer initiatives, CD protection, DMCA, copyright extensions, etc. He rightly pointed out that all the technical and legal efforts are actually only serving to push people toward free file-sharing services.

Of course, Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America disagrees. Why am I getting the opinion Rosen is so disconnected from the artists and the customers, she is hopeless? Or is she a victim of her own PR? Jenny's got a good opinion on the situation here.
Doc has asked the question: Do these webcasting fees only apply to acts signed to RIAA labels? The answer to this is actually not well known, but something I "found" during the Town Hall Webcast on CARP-- Sound Exchange was formed by the RIAA as a non-profit agency of the RIAA to act as a designated "agent" for the industry. Sound Exchange/RIAA made some arrangement with the Library of Congress to be named (designated) Agent to receive the CARP funds for all artists. It was also stated that Sound Exchange would be charged with the mission of trying to find every artist or their estate who was entitled to received the fees. This included artists who were unsigned with any record company/label, minus a percentage for handling the transaction, of course.

This leads me to ask two questions: 1. How much effort will Sound Exchange make to "find" the unsigned artists? 2. How long will the LOC allow Sound Exchange to sit on undistributed fees (earning interest of course) before they get to keep it? Or give it back to the LOC?
As I reported earlier Time Warner Cable in NYC is sending nastygrams to cable customers who are sharing their WiFi with their friends and neighbors. Who in the hell appointed AOL/TW god this month? Oh yeah, these are the wizkids who told us it was "stealing" to not watch the commericals when we Tivo shows. Tell 'em to go to hell. [See Mary Lu bite the hand that ~~feeds~~ used to feed her.]

John Robb's quote: Did a Time Warner VP really say this?

"By having an open transmission, it leaves you really vulnerable," Digeso said. "If you have a Wi-Fi connection in a public park, what would stop, God forbid, a child pornographer or, God forbid, a terrorist using that network?

Yep. And AOL used to get worried to when Steve Case opened his mouth in public, because it would come back to bite them in the butt. Looks like they have something new to worry about.

Universal To Allow Music File Burning

Tue, 09 Jul 2002 21:39:45 GMT

Vivendi Universal To Allow Music File Burning
And the music companies said they weren't interested in allowing customers to burn their own CD's...

Even as media conglomerate Vivendi Universal struggles with its corporate issues, the company's music arm announced that it would work with its digital music operation to offer subscription music downloads, reports Reuters.

Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, said it would offer the content of about 1,000 of its albums, primarily from its back catalog, through EMusic.com, a unit of Vivendi Universal Net USA.

The titles from Universal Music would be integrated into EMusic's service, which offers unlimited access to over 200,000 songs in the standard MP3 format for anywhere from $9.99 to $14.99 per month.

EMusic subscribers gain full rights to burn the files they have downloaded onto CDs or to transfer them to portable music players, as opposed to some other subscription music services, which place restrictions on how and where the files can be transferred and used.

On the Lighter Side of Content Control

Fri, 31 May 2002 12:04:37 GMT

On the Lighter Side of Content Control:

The Peanut Gallery's reporting: "On a side note, this little item at Restoration Hardware is very popular. "

Hoist on Their Own Petard: Record industry unveils music format that can't be played in any computer. From urbanreflex.com [Over the Edge]

No lie. This one's even analogue! I hate to mention this but the Thrift Shop over at the hospital Doug works at has three or four of these beauties for sale for less than $25.00.

ACM Steps to The Plate on DMCA and CBDTPA

Fri, 24 May 2002 10:12:01 GMT

ACM Steps to The Plate on DMCA and CBDTPA

Jeff Grove of ACM's Public Policy Group has written an OpEd piece called: New Legislative Attempt to Regulate Technology Poses Additional Threats to Access. While Jeff elegantly explains the basics of the new proposed law. He goes one step further to express the same things I have been saying for months but a little differently.

"By building on the DMCA, the CBDTPA continues to shift the balance of intellectual property protection in favor of copyright holders, further eroding the rights of consumers and researchers. The U.S. Public Policy Committee of the ACM (USACM), Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and others in the computing community have expressed concerns that the CBDTPA will raise the costs and degrade the performance of computers and software without benefiting consumers. As our community knows too well, legislating constraints on technology that may be developed, purchased, or used by law-abiding citizens has the potential to cause widespread and severe damage to society at large."

Jeff is exactly right. His article is worth a quick read. It gives me comfort to see such an established professional computing organization step to the plate and tell Washington they are going down the wrong path.

Sony Music Lobbies for Ban on Markers - By Brian Briggs

Fri, 24 May 2002 08:00:57 GMT

Sony Music Lobbies for Ban on Markers - By Brian Briggs

Washington DC - Ralph Hughes of Sony Music testified in the Senate today urging lawmakers to enact legislation which would ban felt tip markers. "These innocuous looking writing instruments are the scourge of our society," he said holding up a Sharpie. "Not only can this black stick of death be used to violate the DMCA, but it could also be used to write the instructions to incubate the anthrax virus."

Didn't I warn you this was going to happen?

CARP: It Ain't Over Yet

Thu, 23 May 2002 22:49:54 GMT

CARP: It is Not Over Yet

While Doc, David and everyone are doing the happy dance on LOC CARP Order. The reality check is: the party isn't over folks! CARP is not dead yet.

CARP is in the hands of the Registrar of the Library of Congress, Mary Beth Peters, and the IP lawyers of the LOC. Their mission is to use the "Wisdom of Solomon" and write a fair and reasonable version of what the webcasting rates should be.

Furthermore, I do hope Peters understood the webcaster's message at the Roundtable Meeting, and she is able to separate the passion from the potential compromise and solutions that were proposed, but sometimes were lost in the rhetoric of the day.

Should this new rate structure not be satisfactory to both RIAA/SoundExchange and the webcasters, it could all end up in the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals for a long and expensive court battle.

It's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

This Just in Department

Wed, 22 May 2002 00:18:50 GMT

This Just in Department:

Reuters: "Technology buffs have cracked music publishing giant Sony Music's elaborate disc copy-protection technology with a decidedly low-tech method: scribbling around the rim of a disk with a felt-tip marker." [Scripting News] Another low-tech solution. What's going to happen now, we have to register our Sharpies?

Keith Teare received a letter from Microsoft, which he published on his weblog, which among other things, demands that he stop publishing his weblog. [Scripting News] It appears Keith's method of being open and direct is ruffling a few feathers in Redmond. Pity. He's actually teaching a lesson all young business people need to learn: Be careful who you do business with-- or they can come back to bite you.

CARP is Rejected by Librarian of Congress 30 Day Clock is Now Ticking

Wed, 22 May 2002 00:04:09 GMT

Round 2: CARP is Rejected by Librarian of Congress 30 Day Clock is Now Ticking

Mary Beth Peters, Registrar of the Library of Congress and Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress issued the ORDER today at 10 AM Eastern Time rejecting the CARP webcasting rates presented on February 20, 2002. Now the LOC has 30 days to make their own Ruling on the matter which should be out on or before June 20, 2002.

It appears that the Public Roundtable held on May 10, and the flood of letters sent to the LOC made a definite impact on the decision makers (including the LOC and the Senate Judiciary Committee.) They learned first hand from the statements made to the LOC and Senate Committee that all webcasters, not only the large well funded ones, had not been given a fair and reasonable hearing. The LOC learned that if they adopted the Ruling of February 20, 2002 a considerable number of webcasters, including non-commercial and college webcasters, would have been put out of business.

By hurting the small independent webcaster who had been shut out of the Ruling process would have been a clear cut case of averting the wishes of the Judiciary Committees wishes by adversely hurting small business.

Passion clouds the facts: the other major item the Roundtable exposed the LOC to was the fact that RIAA and the Webcasters had come to some agreements on the entitlement of the artists to be paid something for their works, and agreement regarding the problems surrounding the original reporting requirements. The solutions are not clear cut, but the potential for compromises were set out at the Roundtable.

At this point we have a 30-day waiting period to see what the Librarian of Congress is going to rule.

From where I sit everyone needs to maintain our honest resolve for a long term solution. Most do not understand that this CARP ruling is only good for a 2 year period that is ENDING this year. We actually should be working on negotiating the next two year CARP rates now. But because this Order is precedence setting in order to establish rates, the new CARP II rates will end up being delayed until they have something concrete to discuss.

Hopefully RIAA and the Webcasters will get together to discuss some voluntary compromises as well. As Bill Goldsmith of KPIG.com and RadioParadise.com put it,

" The record labels can either play fair now - or be forced to by Congress and the Copyright Office."

Because if the Ruling is unsatisfactory to any of the parties, even after the Librarian of Congress issues it in June 2002, the new CARP rates could end up in the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals for a hearing.

A Bad, Sad Hollywood Ending: Don't vote for Hollings either

Sun, 19 May 2002 11:24:34 GMT

Business Week: A Bad, Sad Hollywood Ending. [Doc Searls Weblog]

Forget about Bill Gates, folks. The biggest enemy of free software may be Senator Ernest F. Hollings. Legislation introduced in March, 2002, by the South Carolina Democrat to require that copyright-protection software be embedded in PCs, handheld computers, CD players -- and anything else that can play, record, or manipulate data -- could make open-source software such as the Linux operating system illegal. Uh huh... Those of you in Hollings-homeland might want to review what we are planning to do to Feinstein's re-election plans and do the same in your neighborhood.

And They Thought Napster was Dead

Fri, 17 May 2002 21:40:38 GMT

And They Thought Napster was Dead: News.Com: Bertelsmann buys Napster for $8 million. [Scripting News]

For What It's Worth Department: Let's see-- Napster designs a music file sharing system. The company eats up a considerable amount of VC funds to build a product that could revolutionize the music industry. Napster trys to work with the recording industry, but gets blown off by the record companies. Then the recording industry sues Napster out of business. Now Bertelsmann, one of the major names in the recording-entertainment-online industry in Europe, (and a good friend of AOL/TW,) buys Napster at a fire sale for the technology. [sniff-sniff] What smells ?

Senate Judiciary Committee held

Thu, 16 May 2002 05:29:38 GMT

Senate Judiciary Committee held "Copyright Royalties: Where is the Right Spot On The Dial For Webcasting. " hearings today in Washington, D.C..

The entire hearing was webcast. Links to the webcast are on the announcement page.

Senator Orran Hatch and Patrick Leahy made remarks.

The cast of characters testifying include:
Ms. Hilary Rosen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Recording Industry Association of America, Washington, DC
Mr. Jon Potter, Executive Director, The Digital Media Association, Washington, DC
Mr. Bill Rose, VP and General Manager of Webcast Services, Arbitron, New York, NY
Mr. Frank Schliemann, Founder, Onion River Radio, Montpelier, VT
Mr. Billy Straus, President, Websound.com, Brattleboro, VT
Dan Navarro, Artist, American Federation Of Television and Radio Artists, New York, NY

Give a listen to the webcast which starts about 20 minutes into the webcast because of Senator Hatch being delayed.

There is a considerable amount of Point of View information in this hearing. Comments?

Trade Groups File Friend of the Court Briefs About Viewer Tracking

Thu, 16 May 2002 04:42:10 GMT

Trade Groups File Friend of the Court Briefs About Viewer Tracking - The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), and Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) filed the Friend of the Court Brief, noting that the judge's order establishes a harmful "principle of judicial intervention in technology design."

The leading high tech trade associations has criticized a District Court order that requires interactive television companies to track the viewing behavior of their customers. The group filed an amici brief today in the case of Paramount Pictures Corporation et al. versus Replay TV, Inc. et al.

"When the courts take on the role of software engineer, software engineers and consumers need to start worrying. Not only is the potential for unintended consequences extremely high, but the decision also sets dangerous precedents. In a time when consumer 'trust' is central to industry success, forcing companies to abandon their contracts with consumers could be catastrophic. In addition, such court-ordered redesign could effectively bankrupt smaller technology companies with limited resources. With so much at stake for the industry and consumers, it is disturbing that the court would take this decision so lightly," said Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology.

A copy of the brief is available on the web here.

Clueless Hollywood: The State of The Very Rich and Uninformed

Thu, 16 May 2002 02:12:24 GMT

Clueless Hollywood: The State of The Very Rich and Uninformed

"The clue train stopped there four times a day for ten years and they never took delivery."
— Veteran of a firm now free-falling out of the Fortune 500 - Cluetrain Website

This past week as marked several events which are showing everyone in the technology world just how uninformed the Hollywood executive set are.

Mom always said, "Money is no replacement for an education or experience." And damn she was so right! The recent rounds of Senate Subcommittee meetings and townhall meetings, Roundtable meeting and articles, stories and press releases in the media involving CARP and the DMCA show us just how little they know and how dangerous this lack-a-knowledge can really be.

From where I sit it's long overdue for these Hollywood executives to get an education or stop playing dumb. They can't have it both ways.

For years Hollywood has been courting the computer industry in an effort to make the work and costs of productions better and cheaper. The courting and wooing of Silicon Valley and the technical centers of this country by Hollywood was a past time that has gone on for the past 15 or more years. I know because I was there. I have been a designer, witness and a participant to the process.

Over 12 years ago I wrote up a short paper on the Convergence of Digital Media outlining in general details the use of computers and digital storage for audio, video and film transfer. I outlined how peer-to-peer direct connection products could and would make it possible for someone like me, who hates the drive in and out of LA, would be able to work from my home studio with others in their home studios all by way of a proper high-speed internet connection. Nearly everything but "finaling" a piece could be done in this manner. This would save vast amounts of production costs and make it possible for work to be done by the best people wherever they were living. .

For me it was ideal and from my point of view the idea was nothing remarkable. The concept was just a logical extension of the way I had worked before on parts of a production using the internet or closed network service. I had done it before-- but we'd really never told anyone. We just did it and kept our word that nothing would ever get out into the public were it didn't belong.

However when I published the paper online, you would have thought I'd committed blasphemy.

Why? Because I dared to take the "control" of a production out of the realm of the "post house." I was advocating that editors, special effects people and directors could work better remotely and alone in the post production process without the direct supervision and control of a post house. Post houses who are very highly capitalized digital editing facilities rent a considerable amount of space to production companies while producing a television, audio or film product saw this "idea" as a threat to their gravytrain and did nearly everything possible to kill it.

Or so they thought. ...And the Hollywood executives remained clueless by choice.

Byting the Hand the Feeds You

Over the past several years, since I vowed never to drive into LA again for work, I've taken projects that allow me to edit only if I can do the work remotely in my bunny slippers at home. Meetings are normally over the phone and occasional trips into the studios are made for the important, but rare, face to face meeting. And I'm not the only one doing it! Literally hundreds of video, film and audio professionals work everyday at home recording, tweaking, cutting and logging thousands of hours of music, film, graphics and video from the sanity of their home or home studio in an environment where they want to work-- and work very productively.

Over 75% of the tools we use are stock, off the shelf software and compression codecs, like Mp3s and video formats. And we transfer our work to one another by FedEx or using the internet.

The funny thing is: every DMCA crazed Hollywood executive knows we do it. So how do you propose we put the genie back into the bottle?

There isn't a beancounter in LA who will tell an executive straightfaced that we remote-working folks aren't saving Hollywood money. Between us and the Vancouver productions, we are the reasons why Hollywood has been laying off the large in-house staff people who once ran up their payroll. The exec's like Eisner love that we use this technology to give him better profit lines.

So who's he kidding? Oh yeah-- it's a matter of control.

Eisner and his Hollywood cronies want to control who has the technology. That who is YOU the customer. It's a shame he still hasn't learned the lesson on how to put the genie back into the bottle. Because-- you can't.

Comments?

Doc's view of the Copyrighteous Gathering

Wed, 15 May 2002 12:32:53 GMT

Doc Searls Weblog Reports: A gathering of the copyrighteous

Declan is circulating a '"celebration" of the DMCA on May 16 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Hosted by Jack Valenti, Hilary Rosen and chiefs of various publishing, film and other organizations in the business of advocating the maximal leverage of intellectual property law. The "invited guests" include ... what is that, the Judiciary Committee? Biden, Hatch, Helms, Leahy, Coble, Berman, Conyers, Dingle, Hyde, Frank, Markey, Sensenbrenner and Tauzin. Plus Ambassadors from 33 countries, none, oddly, in downtown Europe.

Not you, me, or any artists, writers, film makers and other first sources of "content."

No lie. From the invitation list it appears to be a Who's Who of the Clueless. If they were to invite us, it might surprise them to learn the real truth. Heaven forbid.

Round 2: Webcasters Meet with Industry at CARP Roundtable Today

Fri, 10 May 2002 12:38:03 GMT

Round 2: Webcasters Meet with Industry at CARP Roundtable Today

Today a historic meeting is taking place inwhich the webcasters and recording industry officials are meeting in a Roundtable Discussion with the Library of Congress' CARP panel. The meetings will take place all day long from 9 AM to 5 PM in Washington DC. The International Webcasters Association in cooperation with TVWorldwide.com will be streaming the entire meeting to the internet.

To find the connection, please log into http://www.tvworldwide.com/event_iwa_020509.cfm and click on the "Click here for Live Video" icon. Should you be unable to hear the webcast live, they will archive the days events and put them online for replay later in the day.

Panel Speakers for the US Copyright Office Roundtable are:

Panel I Reporting to Determine Royalty Allocation	Panel II Reporting to Monitor Compliance with Terms of License	Panel III Small Businesses
Future of Music Coalition (Jenny Toomey)	Music Choice (Amy Bushyeager)	WCPE (Deborah Proctor)
Recording Industry Association of America (Steve Marks or other)	DMX Music, Inc. (Barry Knittel)	Arbitron (Joan FitzGerald)
SoundExchange (John Simson or other)	Muzak (Chuck Walker)	Spacial AudioSolutions (Bryan Payne)
Digital Media Association (Jonathan Potter or other)	Digital Media Association (Jonathan Potter or other)	RAS Records (Gary Himelfarb)
National Association of Broadcasters et al. (Bruce Joseph)	Yahoo! (Alex Maghen)	Collegiate Broadcasters, Inc. (Will Robedee)
Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (Frederick Kass or William Malone)	Ultimate 80s (Dave Landis)	Future of Music Coalition (Brian Zisk)
ASCAP (Sam Mosenkis or Chris Amenita)	iM Radio (MaryMcCann)	SoundExchange (John Simson or other)
Websound (Glen Fisher)	XM Satellite Radio & Sirius Satellite Radio (Bruce Joseph)	Massanutten Broadcasting System, Inc. (David Eshleman)
American Federation of Musicians (Patricia Polach)	Recording Industry Association of America (Steve Marks or other)	University of Louisiana at Monroe/KXUL (Joel Willer)
Beethoven.com (Kevin Shively)	SoundExchange (John Simson or other)	RAIN Publications (Kurt Hanson or Paul Maloney)
Yahoo! (Alex Maghen)	American Federation of Musicians (Patricia Polach)	International Webcasting Association (Peggy Miles)
Radio Computing Services, Inc. (Elliot Mazer)	Clear Channel (Brian Parsons or Karyn Ablin)	American Federation of Musicians (Patricia Polach)
3WK LLC (Wanda Atkinson)	Twangcast.com (Michael Hays)	Digitally Imported Radio (Gary Dobek)
MediaUnbound, Inc. (Michael Papish)	International Webcasters Association (Brad Pumphrey)	Radioio.com (Mike Roe)
DMX Music, Inc. (Barry Knittel)	IBC (Joseph Buczynski)	Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Martin Gelfand)

CARP - Webcasters Town Meeting in Washington D.C.

Fri, 10 May 2002 05:51:00 GMT

CARP - Webcasters Town Meeting in Washington D.C.

IWA dedicated the second in a series of on-line Worldwide Town Meetings of Webcasters to the implications of the Copyright Office recommendations known as CARP that was webcasted live today from Washington, D.C. The broadcast was made possible by various sponsors and the assistance of TVWorldwide.com who is hosting the webcasts.

The Archived Webcast in Real Format is available by clicking here. The Webcast is 3hrs and 18 minutes long

From where I sit, this is one of the most important webcasts ever done to date. This webcast answers many of the questions and explains in plain language what will happen to webcasting if CARP is adopted in its current form.

There are five panel sessions in the webcast

1:00-1:15 PM Welcome and opening remarks
Introduction of Sponsors

Dave Gardy, TVWorldwide.com
Susan Pickering, Executive Director, IWA

1:15-2:00 PM Overview of CARP and Royalty Issues and State of the Webcast Industry
What is the big picture and what is at stake?

Moderator Peggy Miles, Intervox
Panelists David Lawrence, Radio Host On-Line Tonight
Roger Dean Lehman Bros., Chairman IWA
Heather Shay-Peters, Radiodelray.com
David Landis, Ultimate 80's
John Simson Sound Exchange

2:00-2:30 PM Legal and Regulatory Facts Surrounding CARP
Where are we in the process and how does it work?

Moderator Dave Oxenford, Shaw Pittman
Panelists Karin Ablin, Wiley Rein & Felding
Dineen Wasylik, Wiley Rein & Felding
TBD

2:30-3:00 PM Technology Issues and the State-of-the-Art in the Webcasting Industry
What technologies are changing the face of webcasting?

Moderator Dave Gardy, TVWorldwide.com
Panelists Ken Santucci, Amprod
Mark Maxey TVWorldwide.com, formerly with Digital Island, Akamai
Doug Wyllie Streaming Magazine

3:00-4:00 PM The Call to Action: What the Webcasting Industry Must do Next
What Now?

Moderator Peggy Miles, Intervox
Panelists Dave Oxenford, Shaw Pittman
Steve Wolf, Professional Products
Dave Gardy, TVWorldwide.com
David Lawrence, Radio Host On-Line Tonight
Heather Shay-Peters, Radiodelray.com
Bill Goldsmith, Radio Paradise.com
Steve Wolf, WOLF FM Radio.com

Interactive Town Hall Meeting of Webcasters May 9 1PM-4 PM EDT

Thu, 09 May 2002 13:40:29 GMT

Make Sushi out of CARP!

Reminder: International Webcasting Association to Rally Membership on Copyright Controversy with Two Webcasts, Live from Washington DC TVWorldwide.com Tapped to Stream Interactive Town Hall Meeting of Webcasters May 9, 1PM-4 PM EDT and Coverage of U.S. Copyright Office Roundtable May 10 9AM-5PM EDT - For the entire press release click here!

Webcasting Information on CARP ROUNDTABLE

Tue, 07 May 2002 12:49:36 GMT

While I rarely reprint press releases directly this one is important. Please spread the word.

TVWORLDWIDE.COM - PRESS RELEASE

International Webcasting Association to Rally Membership on Copyright Controversy with Two Webcasts, Live from Washington DC TVWorldwide.com Tapped to Stream Interactive Town Hall Meeting of Webcasters May 9, and Coverage of U.S. Copyright Office Roundtable May 10

For Immediate Release
Contact: Beverly O'Brien TV Worldwide.com, Inc. Beverly@tvworldwide.com www.tvworldwide.com
(703) 961-9250 Ext. 222

Susan Pickering International Webcasting Association Spickering@webcasters.org www.webcasters.org
(866) 274-1732 ext 2690

Chantilly, Va. - Deploying the very technology that gave birth to the industry it represents, The International Webcasting Association (IWA), in cooperation with TVWorldwide.com announced a joint effort to produce two webcasts on important copyright issues that may change the face of the webcast industry. In an effort to unite and inform its members and the webcasting industry at large, the IWA will dedicate the second in a series of on-line Worldwide Town Meetings of Webcasters to the implications of the Copyright Office recommendations. This will be webcast on May 9 from 1PM-4 PM EDT. This will be followed the next day with live coverage of the U.S. Copyright Office's important roundtable discussion on the proposed guidelines for webcasters to give the required notice of copyrighted material they webcast and to maintain webcast records. The roundtable will be held May 10 from 9AM-5PM EDT.

Both webcasts will originate from Washington D.C. and be freely available at www.webcasters.org and www.tvworldwide.com. Event sponsors include Streaming Magazine, the nationally syndicated "On-Line Tonight" radio show featuring David Lawrence and other sponsors currently lining up to support the webcasts.

Visitors to the live Worldwide Town Meeting of Webcasters will be able to post questions to the panel and participate by submitting questions and comments chat and e-mail, thus providing a fully interactive forum for those unable to attend or who are simply interested in learning more about the issues.

Roger Dean, Chairman of the IWA said, "We're excited to be able to bring our industry together for these important events in a format that actually showcases the benefits from webcasting. We've again teamed with TVWorldwide.com to webcast the event because of their vast expertise in streaming successful interactive events via Internet TV."

"This is a defining moment for our industry," stated Susan Pickering, Executive Director of the IWA stated. "We're demonstrating the potential of the very medium we work in every day as we create awareness of these issues. Its crucial to ensure our membership and all webcasters have access to the process taking place surrounding the copyright issues."

"We're pleased to work with the IWA on this historical first in streaming video," stated Dave Gardy, Chairman and CEO of TVWorldwide.com. "We're getting a huge response to these events nationally and the U.S. Copyright Office has been very responsive in working with us to facilitate coverage of the roundtable. We look forward to once again working with the IWA as they practice what they preach in utilizing webcasts to serve their membership."

The 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) established that webcasters must pay "performance rights" fees to record labels for the music they play and instructed the Copyright Office to set the appropriate rate, which turned the matter over to a Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) to propose what those rates should be. Industry observers have pointed out that the CARP's recommended rates are significantly more than 100% of most webcasters gross revenues. The Librarian of Congress has until May 21, 2002 to decide whether to accept, reject or modify the CARP's findings.

"If they accept the CARP panel's recommendation, many observers believe that the decision will effectively kill Internet Radio as an industry, as the decision could bankrupt all but the three or four largest webcasters," commented Pickering.

The event will be compressed and archived for viewing at www.webcasters.org and www.tvworldwide.com. Participants should have the free Real Player installed and should log on 15 minutes prior to each event. Questions can be directed to 703-961-9250, ext 223 before and during the events.

As a leading streaming video applications service provider, TVWorldwide.com is developing a network of video channels that is an affiliation of community-based Internet television stations, each underwritten by a strategic partner, "aimcastingsm" to targeted B2B and special interest demographic audiences worldwide. TVWorldwide.com works with strategic partners to develop the latest in live and archived state-of-the art video streaming content applications. TVWorldwide.com was recently named one of the streaming video industry's "Hottest Streaming Companies" by Streaming Magazine, www.streamingmagazine.com.

The International Webcasting Association (IWA) is a worldwide non-profit trade organization dedicated to the growth and development of the art, technology and commerce of webcasting and streaming media over the Internet and other networks. The IWA, headquartered in Washington, DC ( www.webcasters.org ), represents members throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia. The IWA works to keep members informed, connected, and better prepared for the changes that are an integral part of the technology.

From Where I Sit: May 1, 2002 - A Day of Silence

Tue, 30 Apr 2002 11:24:20 GMT

From Where I Sit

Dave's mentioned in Scripting today about the USA Today article where many webcasters are going to go silent on Wednesday May 1, 2002, in protest to the Copyright Office's CARP recommendations.

I support them 100%.

For those of you who have been sleeping under a rock, let me bring you up to speed. The Copyright Office has made recommendations, which resembles a Hillary Rosen - RIAA gift list, to set the fees webcasters would pay for playing any recorded music over the internet. These fee would be based upon the number songs played x the of users. Without giving you a lesson in high mathmatics, the short answer is the amount of revenue these fees would require many webcasters to pay would put about 90% of the webcasters out of business in short order.

At a gathering of webcasters at the recent NAB2002, many webcasters expressed deep concerns that if the CARP recommendations were enacted they would not only put most webcasters out of business, but deeply in debt that would never be able to be repaid, because the CARP fees are retroactive.

This was a legislation was supposed to encourage business growth and give a level playing field to the industry not kill it.

According to SaveInternetRadio.org

"Most webcasters are planning the May 1st "Day of Silence" to begin at dawn in their time zone and end in late evening. Some webcasters plan to go entirely silent, while others plan to replace their music streams with periods of silence interspersed with public service announcements on the subject. (Some webcasters also plan to broadcast or direct listeners to an all-day talk show on the issues produced by WOLF FM's Steve Wolf.)

Webcasters that will be participating in the "Day of Silence" include the majority of the top-rated independent webcasters, including AllDanzRadio (various formats), Choice Radio (various formats), ChronixRadio (rock), ClevelandHits.com (CHR), CyberRadio2000 (various formats), Digitally Imported (various forms of electronica), HardRadio (rock), iNetProgramming (bluegrass and other formats), Internet Radio Hawai'i (Hawaiian music), KING-FM/Seattle (classical), KPIG/Freedom, CA (Americana), M4Radio (indie rock), Mostly Classical (classical), Radio Paradise (AAA), Radioio (AAA) and RAIN Radio (several formats).

Other webcasters planning to participate include SomaFM (electronica), 3WK (alternative), TwangTownUSA (country), Twangcast (country), Ultimate-80s (Eighties), Village Voice Radio (eclectic), WCSB/Cleveland (various), WICB-FM (Ithica College), and WOLF FM (70s-80s-90s).

Webcasters who may not go silent but who plan to support the effort with heavy schedules of PSAs (that will include a moment of silence — e.g., "Here's what Internet radio may sound like on May 22nd...") include Beethoven.com (classical), Live365.com (various formats), ClassicalMusicDetroit (classical), Shoutcast (various formats), Winamp Radio (various formats), and numerous other college and noncommercial webcasters. "