RIAA Latest Method To Extort Consumers

[GhostShip]

The greed merry-go-round just never seems to stop for these guys.

http://news.com.com/Tension+grows+between+labels+and+digital+radio/2100-1025_3-6027079.html?tag=html.alert

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 harmonize 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."

In some sense, the new digital technologies are simply rekindling one of the music industry's oldest debates, over how record labels should be compensated when their music is played over the air.

Congress has historically come down on the side of the broadcasters in this debate, saying that radio stations can play whatever music they want while paying only a relatively small amount of money to songwriters and publishers for the right to "perform" the song on-air--and not paying record companies at all.

Similarly, the right of consumers to tape songs off the radio has generally been held to be fair use.

However, when Congress set the rules for Internet and other digital broadcasts in 1998, it gave record companies the right to royalties from Internet and satellite radio broadcasts. That's set up a patchwork of different rules for different new media companies, even as technology has brought the way consumers use their services more closely together

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It does seem rather strange that I can broadcast any tracks I wish in the US on a radio station and pay a minor fee and as soon as I put it on a web server with its obvious limitation on the size of the audience and the very low quality of the track the RIAA is allowed to demand extortionate fees from the person running the station.
How can this be justified when congress has repeatedly said fair use recordings are legal ?

I think Mitch is right, he needs to be told that some things are not for sale like the American peoples fair use rights.

[Lysander]

Except if oyu talk to the very easily-bribeable United States Congress, it is for sale. Just ask lobbiests, and they do it legally.

[Scyre]

That's the problem. Here in America the all mighty dollar has been made so important for so many years that few have any depth to their thoughts. They think as far as: "How can I squeeze another dollar out of this?" So, in essence everyone has a price on everything.... Sad huh?

America has suffered from moral decay to the point that there is no further to sink. It is just a matter of people becoming aware of it now. Soon the US will no longer paint a pretty gold frame around this disgusting picture and come right out in the open (with pride) of how low and greedy it all is. People have gained a new widespread religion: Selfishness. Currency. Corporate greed. The Holy Dollar.