Acme Voiceworx

Looks like SoundExchange and the RIAA will be defending their indefensible royalty rates on two fronts — the US Senate has introduced S. 1353, The Internet Radio Equality Act. Along with H.R. 2060 (which is approaching 100 co-sponsors), this bill would vacate the Copyright Royalty Board’s recent decision to charge webcasters both small and large a higher rate than is paid by even satellite radio (and certainly higher than what AM and FM currently pay).

Webcasters are still in need of public support, which you can show here.

The Copyright Royalty Board has moved the date on which its new, predatory royalty rates for streamers take effect from May 15th to July 15th. This makes it more likely that the Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060), currently moving through Congress, will indeed pass in time to head off this catastrophe for small webcasters.

Stay abreast of all the developments here, and show your support by taking action as suggested here.

It’s finals week and I have no life, hence the dearth of postings. I’m swimming in yet-to-be-graded papers on Internet Radio, audio imaging projects, and unfinished exams, at least until May 15th.

More will be revealed after that date. Please stay tuned — it’ll be worth it, promise.

I don’t go to as many shows as I used to, and I forget how much work it really is to properly “do” a tradeshow like NAB. They’re claiming over 106,000 attendees, and I’m inclined to believe them.

So what was hot? The Red One digital camera, that’s what. Hands down, the hottest item at the entire show.

Rather than list all the feeds and speeds here, I’ll simply point you to their website where you can see it all for yourself. But I will tell you that the images produced by this thing are stunning. These guys really did it right, and the fact that they were able to get a “custom” codec included in Apple’s new Final Cut Studio 2 (one of the other “hots”) represents a coup. I’m much more a sound guy than a video guy, but I want a Red One digital camera, period. (more…)

Last Monday the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) declined to hear requests to reconsider its ruling that raises the royalties Internet radio stations pay to record labels by about 300%, retroactive to January 2006. It’s widely believed that this move will put small- and medium-sized webcasters into bankruptcy, and will essentially mean the end of Internet radio as we know it.

This is not about whether composers, artists, and labels should be paid — they should. It’s about how much to pay them. It’s about whether a nascent industry will be allowed to grow, independent of the corporate megaliths inadvertently formed by the ill-conceived Telecom Act of 1996. (more…)

I really hope we’re done with it. His remarks were ugly and indefensible, and so was the MSM’s reaction and behaviors in response to it. There’s blood in the water, and it’s the blood of the media eating one of its own.

Everybody loses.