Civil disobedience promised after net radio royalty bill falls
The Recording Industry Association of America silences the educational sector, the home hobbyist, and the grassroots political movement networks. Why? Because, we’re expected to believe, these evil sections of society are trying to steal from five of the biggest media giants in the corporate world by playing the odd tune over the internet to maybe a dozen people at a time.
They’re not trying to steal from struggling artists, mind you (the record labels have proved time and again they don’t care about them terribly much anyway)… but from global corporates. Naturally, it was the duty of the American Congress to make sure they paid every cent backdated to 1998, thereby ensuring each and every one of them went out of business.
Yeah – good thinking.
The controversial HR.5469 bill died in the Senate tonight, after failing to reach the floor for a vote. The bill was originally intended to grant ‘casters a six month stay on performance royalties, but with seven minutes to go before the House voted last week, it was a replaced with an RIAA-negotiated settlement. That passed unanimously, but anger spread last week after many webcasters realized this did nothing for retrospective royalties owing since 1998, and would put many educational, and non profit webcasters out of business.
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