FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski addressed the Policy Summit of The Future of Music Coalition yesterday. The organization has long been at odds with broadcasters over a number of issues. But not to worry – Genachoswki was entirely focused on the FCC’s efforts to preserve a free and open internet – a chief policy goal of FMC – via network neutrality. That made up the beginning, the middle and the end of his address to the organization. The Policy Summit was scheduled from 10/4/09 through 10/6/09.
RBR-TVBR observation: When we saw the juxtaposition of Genachowski with Future of Music, our spidey senses started tingling. But not to worry – network neutrality was once again Genachowski’s chief concern, and it’s an issue both broadcasters and musicians can get behind.
In fact, if musicians are able to leverage the internet to the point where they can create and distribute their own material, perhaps the labels that get between broadcasters and artists can be eliminated.
FMC was a key player in battling ownership consolidation and it’s a big fan of LPFM, but seems to have pretty much steered clear of the PRA battle. It issued a major position paper recently over artist compensation, but it was geared more toward ownership of intellectual property than it was getting compensation for airplay.
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The group’s blogs are filled with alarmist propaganda saying that the Internet must be regulated now — to save musicians! — as if ISPs would cut off all music tomorrow if they could. But the regulation would, in fact, prevent ISPs from reining in illegal copying of music and thus would harm musicians rather than helping them.
No musician who ever hopes to make a dime selling albums should be a member of this group.
It’s no surprise that Julius Genachowski didn’t say much about his intended regulation at the event. While no one knows what the proposed rules will say, the Chairman’s rush to regulate has already come under fire from many members of Congress, and runs counter to his own assertions the FCC will now be “data driven†and regulate only when markets do not work. One can only hope that the FCC will publish a Notice of Inquiry, rather than a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, at the upcoming meeting, and study the matter before proposing rules.
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