This reader responds to our RBR Observation on "CEA comes out swinging for XM" (
5/22/06 RBR #100)
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Your conclusion is correct (even a little mild), but the situation is even worse than you say.
DAT is decreasingly used as data storage, decreasingly in broadcast, and completely dead-in-the-water in music recording (except to transfer ancient recordings archived on DAT). DAT could have been a tremendous consumer medium, probably only now going out of favor with consumers, had it not been for the Serial Copyguard Management System imposed on the technology by the recording industry (Sony shot themselves in the foot - not the first time they have done this).
Not only are the record labels clueless when it comes to technology, they do seem to be their own worst enemies. I see their political influence as being far greater than their worth to society, probably based on the cultural impact of music on us. As with the AHRA money that has never been distributed to composers or copyright holders, any effort to distribute royalties to the RIAA to compensate for potential lost sales due to Internet file trading, satellite radio time-shifting, etc., are based on fundamentally wrong understanding of copyright law and seemingly a lack of plain common sense on the part of the public and the politicians.
We have an imperfect but workable system of Performance Rights Society royalty distribution to copyright holders from broadcasters, venues, etc. To designate ISPs as venues, collect license money from them to cover the trading of copyrighted material and redistribute it to copyright holders would make this issue go away tomorrow. The problem? It cuts the record labels and movie studios out of the equation (beyond the interest they have in creative copyrights and publishing).
With this in mind, it's obvious that the record labels actually have no grounds to sue uploaders of files, and certainly have no grounds to try to stop Pioneer from selling an XM radio that allows for time shifting. Someone has to stand up against this.
Doug Osborne
Director of Sales & Marketing
Martinsound, Inc.
Good Morning - Gain a personal edge on today's business day. Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
