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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Washington, D.C. - Ahead of an important congressional hearing on digital performance royalties for non-interactive webcasts, the Future of Music Coalition urges Congress to establish a rate system that ensures artists get paid fairly and webcasters can continue to broadcast.
FMC has submitted testimony to the House Small Business Committee, which will hold a hearing Thursday on the Copyright Royalty Board’s controversial new rates for webcasters. Many small webcasters have complained the rates are so high they will be forced to stop broadcasting after the implementation date of July 15, while some musicians and copyright holders believe the new rates reflect fair compensation for the use of their work.
FMC believes the best solution to the problem is a proportionate royalty structure – large webcasters with bigger audiences and revenue would pay a higher rate, while small webcasters pay a lower rate commensurate with their audience and revenue.
The tiered system allows artists to be paid – FMC has long supported the digital performance royalty – and it allows small webcasters to keep broadcasting. Small webcasters fill an important niche by playing genres of music and artists that are regularly excluded from commercial radio.
“Artists need small webcasters. Small webcasters need music. And artists deserve royalties,” said Jenny Toomey, the executive director of FMC. “We urge Congress to create a royalty rate structure that doesn’t damage both in the process.”
It’s also important that Congress recognize the increasing role that performance royalties will play in artist compensation in the future. As internet-based technologies, portable players and cellphones continue to evolve, and as we achieve nearly ubiquitous wireless access, it’s highly likely that consumers will trend away from purchasing music in a tangible form, whether on a CD or via a digital download. Instead, they will pay for access to music, whether through a music subscription service, satellite radio, or by listening to the myriad of webcasting stations available worldwide.
“The ‘celestial jukebox’ is almost here,” said FMC Deputy Director, Kristin Thomson. “As technologies continue to develop, we’ll see more and more consumers just tapping into their music libraries, or listening to webcast stations from wherever they are. That’s why it’s so important for Congress to ensure that artists, songwriters, publishers and labels can continue to be compensated for the performances of their work, but at rates that will let online radio flourish.”
FMC also continues to believe that it’s important to develop a reporting process that ensures even the smallest webcaster can file timely and accurate playlists with SoundExchange. For years we have urged the development of an authentication database, managed by a neutral third party, through which copyright ownership and performer information would be verified. Such a database would reduce filling time and errors on playlists, thus making sure more money flows directly to artists.
For FMC’s full testimony, see http://www.futureofmusic.org/news/webcastingtestimony07.cfm. FMC Communications Director Justin Jouvenal will be available for comment at the hearing on Thursday beginning at 9:30 a.m. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in room 2360 of the Rayburn Building.
About the Future of Music Coalition
Future of Music Coalition is a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that identifies, examines, interprets and translates the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy. FMC achieves this through continuous interaction with its primary constituency - musicians - and in collaboration with other creator/citizen groups.
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