A few years ago NPR sent out a legal opinion that cooled virtually all affiliate stations on podcasting. The opinion was that the DJ, the staff and the station board were liable for excessive fines and fees if DRM right were not acquired for podcasts of musical programs. The fees set for podcasting of musical programs was set (as of May 1, 2007) absurdly high. Far higher, up to a hundred or more times higher, than the broadcast fees typically paid by a public radio station to ASCAP/BMI. Further permission to use a track would have to be obtained from the artist, the recording company, the publishing company and the licensing agency. Four entities would have to sign off on each tune podcast.
Here's my questions: Why did the Library of Congress-empaneled BRM board set podcast fees so enormously high? What act of congress allows these rates? Was the formation of the federal three-man board even legal? And finally, what interest does the recording industry have in quelling music podcasting, especially when it is so easy to record from an internet stream?
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Re: why hasn't anyone done anything about it?!
I have read that SoundExchange views all music on the web as its purview. Even stuff you recorded yourself. What would Kafka say?
What am I (still) missing?
A few years ago NPR sent out a legal opinion that cooled virtually all affiliate stations on podcasting. The opinion was that the DJ, the staff and the station board were liable for excessive fines and fees if DRM right were not acquired for podcasts of musical programs. The fees set for podcasting of musical programs was set (as of May 1, 2007) absurdly high. Far higher, up to a hundred or more times higher, than the broadcast fees typically paid by a public radio station to ASCAP/BMI. Further permission to use a track would have to be obtained from the artist, the recording company, the publishing company and the licensing agency. Four entities would have to sign off on each tune podcast.
Here's my questions: Why did the Library of Congress-empaneled BRM board set podcast fees so enormously high? What act of congress allows these rates? Was the formation of the federal three-man board even legal? And finally, what interest does the recording industry have in quelling music podcasting, especially when it is so easy to record from an internet stream?