HERNDON, Va. — Earlier this month I warned all of you that Internet radio could become just a fond memory if a series of proposes royalties to play copyrighted material online was allowed to stand. Today, I am pleased to observe that intelligent individuals at the Librarian of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office turned thumbs down on that plan.
If approved, the plan would gone into the pockets of web sites to pay royalties not only to songwriters and music publishers, as traditional radio stations already do, but to record labels as well.
The royalty fees would have also been retroactive to 1998, meaning many Internet stations would have faced mind-boggling fees to pay off past music plays.
The proposed rate of one seventh to one fourth of a cent per song per streaming listener may not seem like much on the surface, but the staggering possible numbers of ‘Net listeners translate those tiny numbers into “real money” (grin) fast. Playing one song an hour to 100 listeners would look something like this on a spreadsheet: =(0.00142857*24)*100 or $3.428568 per day.
By doing the math it’s easy to see more songs or listeners—or both—can be a financial nightmare. Stations would have been required to keep detailed records of music played at streams being played at any one time.
If a listener logs in and out several times a day each log in counts as a unique contact. Plus, royalties are expected not only for music played for listener enjoyment, but also for music used in jingles, commercials, etc. Many commercial broadcast stations had already found ways to not play commercials on the Internet to save that liability
Regular on-air broadcast stations pay approximately three percent of their revenues for music royalties at this time, and they told copyright regulators and Congress that if they had to pay the fees again at an even higher rate for the Internet, they would just shut down their streams and go dark on the ‘Net.
Earlier this month many ‘’Net broadcasters turned off their normal programming and either went silent or played announcements urging listeners to help them fight the proposed royalties.
Copyright groups said that many of the uses for music on the Internet came from independent or hobbyist broadcasters who had no income and thus could not pay a percentage of nothing to them.
Monday’s decision by the Librarian of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office does not necessarily mean a complete reprieve for ‘Net broadcasters. Those offices will be proposing their own idea of what is a fair rate for use of copyrighted music material online within the next 30 days or so. Once that happens if the formula is too high for Internet broadcasters or too low for music providers then lawsuits may erupt on both sides of the fence.
What most of these broadcasters fear is being forced to pay retroactively for use of music on which fees would be assessed ex-post-facto.
Until there is a conclusive decision look for ‘Net broadcasters to not proliferate and many commercial stations to keep their streams offline or curtailed to a point where no copyrighted music will be played online to protect their bottom line.
Will HOA Gestapo thwart neighborhood wireless nets? One of my newest interests is wireless Internet connectivity and the number of cities and neighborhoods across the nation setting up these islands of high-speed ‘Net teats. I am especially interested in folks in Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland who are investigating putting up their own WIFI access points.
I monitor the ongoing discussions from a mailing list accessible from site http://www.novawireless.org/mailman/listinfo/rfmon.
A common thread among some of the users is a fear that homeowner associations or city councils will forbid erection of the relatively small antennas needed to do this. One man from Leesburg said he had approached his city fathers and had been told he could not operate a business from his home.
This user has a T-1 line and wanted to help pay for the line by sharing it wirelessly with his neighbors. I find this strange and really no different than the old days where individuals operated commercial bulletin board services from their homes.
I remember one of the largest BBS systems in this area was in the basement of a Reston man’s home. He had scores of computers, fiber optic telephone lines, etc.
My take on this is that because of the same law passed a few years ago allowing satellite dishes, ham radio and television antennae on homes previous forbidden by HOA covenants and city ordinances, wireless Internet access points can not be regulated by non-federal bodies.
One of the best things about wireless Internet connectivity is the raw speed. Depending on how close a user is to an access point the speed between their computer and the ‘Net can be upwards of 11 megabits per second. Of course, traffic ON the Internet is limited to speed of the provider’s connection to the main network, say a T-1.
This is much faster than the normal 1.5 or less connectivity of a cable modem. DSL rates can be as low as 64,000 bits per second. Plus, wireless users can put up repeaters in their home to not only allow wireless access anywhere on their property, but also to “pass along” the ‘Net signal to other neighbors. If done correctly multiple signals from neighbors, can create a matrix covering an entire neighborhood with just a few access points.
Connectivity WITHIN a neighborhood between users of the same system is at the highest speed and can make for some bodacious game playing speeds (grin). Another use for this type of network could be using ‘Net cams pointed at common play areas, pools, etc. to keep up with neighborhood kids. Only users of the neighborhood network could access the cameras because of IP addresses, if wanted.
Wireless technology is improving by leaps and bounds. The equipment I bought last year did not allow mounting of external antennas or increased power. New systems are now available that can wirelessly repeat signals instead of being physically attached to a network by wire. These newer systems can just be put in an attic and plugged in, acting the same way as a radio antenna on a high mountain.
Why can’t wireless ‘’Net antennas be put on the forests of cell phone towers we have around here as main access points?
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