The full House Judiciary Committee under John Conyers (D-MI) is scheduled to hear arguments for and against H.R. 848, the "Performance Rights Act" next Wednesday. We don’t know who the witnesses will be as yet, but it’s a good bet some of them might bring along their guitars. And that’s not all – the day before, the Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will hold a session entitled, “Circuit City Unplugged: Why Did Chapter 11 Fail To Save 34,000 Jobs?” Both are slated for a 10AM Eastern starting time.
RBR/TVBR observation: We can save the committee the trouble on Circuit City – the company reacted to tough times by lopping the head off its sales force, essentially conceding the market to its competition. The question on performance is why radio is in the defendant’s docket, rather than the labels. NAB Radio Board President Steve Newberry did a great job defending broadcasters the last time this came up – we wouldn’t mind seeing him make the case again.
