As satellite and digital radio offers a very wide range of music to choose from, the music industry is eager to control what consumers can do with radio broadcasts. According to the music industry, if consumers are given the opportunity to record music from digital radio, they will likely start recording songs instead of purchasing them. Last year, the RIAA began proposing a broadcast flag type system and now they are in negotiations with satellite radio companies, such as XM about controlling what their listeners can do.
One other thing the music industry is looking into is how the record labels should be compensated when ever their music is broadcasted. Up until 1998, the Congress allowed songwriters and publishers the right to be paid a small royalty for a right to broadcast the song on the radio, however the music industry did not get anything out of this. Worse still, home taping was also generally considered to be fair use, something the music industy was strongly against with its "Home Taping is Killing Music" slogan. In 1998, the Congress changed the rules such that record labels have the right to collect royalties for satellite & radio broadcasts.
In order to avoid legal issues, XM Satellite radio discontinued its PC-based receiver such that consumers can no longer digitally record its content to a PC with what ever equipment remains available. When Sirius launched the S50 last year which has the ability to record songs, the RIAA had started negotiations with them over this device and in December, the device's features were crippled to make it as difficult as possible to record individual songs and schedules were limited to 2 hours.
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For now, the Recording Industry Association of America is in negotiations with satellite radio companies and is opening discussions with radio broadcasters over specific products. But over the long term, the music industry says, Congress should find a way to regulate these new digital radio networks so labels can get paid when consumers keep copies of songs, as is the case with iTunes. "We've got to find a way to harmonise this so it's rational," said Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's chief executive officer. "There are going to be new technologies that are great for fans, and great for the entire music world, but they're all operating on different platforms, and all operating on different rule sets." The full article can be read here. |
It seems that the music industry has not learned even when it came to home taping. Back in the days when radio cassette recorders were at their peak, it was actually quite straight forward for someone to tape music off the radio. Of course the music industry was worried at the time, but has this stopped consumers from popping into the shops or killed off sales? In my opinion, if consumers where to use digital radio as a way to avoid buying music, they would sooner do this by just listening to their favourite station (considering the amount of stations available) rather than trying to build a music collection from trying to record it.
Source: ZD Net Australia
