Tuesday night, the Senate passed the Webcaster Settlement Act. Now it goes to the President's desk for an almost certain signature. I doubt very much he will understand what he's signing.
My problem is that I don't understand the benefit to webcasters of putting SoundExchange in the position of negotiator. They have been useless in their negotiations over the royalty, attacking the revenue systems of web casters, rather than actually negotiating any discount in percentage. For years I've listened to record labels complain about how radio is too focused on revenue and not enough on promoting music. Finally, they get broadcasters who want to promote music, and the representative of the industry is complaining that webcasters don't focus hard enough on developing greater revenues. Don't they understand that what they're advocating is a system that they've already said they don't like?
I read Kurt Hansen every day, and Kurt says this legislation is necessary to keep webcasters in business. I don't see how, considering SoundExchange's track record. Perhaps someone can illuminate this issue for me.
My problem is that I don't understand the benefit to webcasters of putting SoundExchange in the position of negotiator. They have been useless in their negotiations over the royalty, attacking the revenue systems of web casters, rather than actually negotiating any discount in percentage. For years I've listened to record labels complain about how radio is too focused on revenue and not enough on promoting music. Finally, they get broadcasters who want to promote music, and the representative of the industry is complaining that webcasters don't focus hard enough on developing greater revenues. Don't they understand that what they're advocating is a system that they've already said they don't like?
I read Kurt Hansen every day, and Kurt says this legislation is necessary to keep webcasters in business. I don't see how, considering SoundExchange's track record. Perhaps someone can illuminate this issue for me.