Debate About Royalties For Satellite Radio Is Back On

DEBATE ABOUT ROYALTIES FOR SATELLITE RADIO IS BACK ON
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 1/12, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Legislation to make satellite radio companies adhere to the same rate-setting and content-protection rules as Internet-based services is back in the Senate hopper. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the same language last year, but it failed to move despite fierce lobbying by the music industry. The early play this year shows that lawmakers "continue to view parity among digital music services as a top priority," said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America. Under the current system, satellite radio has morphed into a digital distribution service, "shorting the creators of music, displacing licensed sales and threatening the integrity of the digital music marketplace in the process," he said. "This is simply no way to do business." The National Music Publishers' Association also hailed the new bill, S.256. David Israelite, the group's president, said he hoped that 2007 "will be the year that Congress ensures that music publishers and songwriters are compensated for their works when they are transmitted over digital radio." But Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn said, "Consumers are demanding the ability to do more with digital media they lawfully acquire, not less. The bill looks to the past rather than to the future."
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