Things never seem to slow down at the FMC. With the media deregulation issues still on the front burners, we’ve been submitting testimony, preparing documents and participating in a variety of events, including the FCC hearing in Richmond, VA, the upcoming hearing in Seattle and events at South by Southwest. There are lots of details about the importance of these efforts to musicians and citizens below, so read on!

[cue jingle bells] “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”

It most certainly is! Though we FMC board members have a holiday season filled more with emails, details and name badge-alphabetizing parties than holiday carols and eggnog, it’s definitely worth it when you look at the impressive cast of panelists, speakers and musicians who will be convening in DC in less than two weeks at our Policy Summit. This month’s email focuses on the last round of details for our annual event, as well as a bit of news about our radio study that we released in mid-November. So read on!

Dear friends:

Thanks for tuning in, and for hanging tight. As usual, we’ve been hard at work on many fronts since we last wrote – organizing events, writing, drafting responses to FCC rules, engaging with the low power radio community, learning more about digital distribution services, and grantwriting. We thank everyone who wrote sent us feedback about newsletter #27 – we’re glad it was informative! But we also heard that the newsletters are too long. So…we’re putting on our “economy of language” hats for this report as well as shifting some longer pieces to the website where folks can peruse them at their leisure. Let us know if this makes the newsletters more readable. And now, the news:

Hello again. It’s hard to believe how much we’ve tackled in the five weeks that have passed since the last newsletter; from participating in the webcasting debate, to moving forward on our health insurance study, to filing comments with the FCC. Chalk it up to persistence, concern, and more hours of daylight. Now, shortly before this newsletter’s release, we get word from the US Copyright Office that the Librarian of Congress has rejected the CARP proposals regarding webcasting rates and reporting requirements. While the Office’s announcement did not include any particular reasons for the rejection, we assume that the collective effort made by webcasters, artists, and citizen groups to include their voices in the debate has had an effect on the process.

What’s next? The Librarian has until June 20 to issue a final determination setting the rates and terms for the licenses. There’s more information available on the Copyright Office’s website here:
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/carp/webcast_process.html

We are interested to see what transpires in the next thirty days, and will continue to participate in the debate as much as we can. Now, onto the news!