The Internet Radio Equality Act

Learning politics is not going to be easy. To this point, I've focused primarily on the upcoming American presidential elections because presidential candidates talk about specific political issues -- that's accessible to me. Similarly, Aristotle's "Politics" is accessible to me as well because it talks about politics in general. What is not so accessible to me is politics in practice -- that often confuses me. This blog, for better or worse, is intended to document my attempts to learn about politics, and this necessarily means my confusion is going to be documented rather extensively. I'm planning to write a bit more on legislation (this will involve the confusing world of Congressional politics that I have heretofore studiously avoided) in the coming weeks, so expect to see me confused a LOT in the near future! Today I want to talk about a bill I have conflicted views on: the Internet Radio Equality Act.

Recently, some monstrosity called the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) approved a royalty rate hike for Internet radio stations and limited the options Internet radio stations had to pay royalties. This has led to a campaign to save Internet radio conducted by those concerned that some webcasters, especially small webcasters, would be unable to pay the new rates. The Internet Radio Equality Act has been introduced to both the House of Representatives (H.R. 2060) and to the Senate(S. 1353); if passed, it would enable webcasters to choose between paying "0.33 cents per hour of sound recordings transmitted to a single listener" or "7.5 percent of the revenues received by the provider during that year that are directly related to the provider's digital transmissions of sound recordings." The bill itself is short and easy to read: you can read it here courtesy of GovTrack (I've linked to the text of H.R. 2060). The ramifications of the bill are anything but easy to understand. As an individual who listens to Internet radio, I don't want any royalty rate increases which will push webcasters offline; if that happens, there would be less choice for me. Internet radio is an awesome thing; I think it is the best means to discover new music and to explore obscure musical genres. On the other hand, people (in practice, often organizations) who own the rights to musical works and sound recordings do and should have certain rights regarding how their music can be distributed. If they want to target Internet radio for a royalty increase, should the government refuse them this right any more than it should tell a used car dealer he cannot charge more than a certain price for a certain model of car? Yet it is important to note that the U.S. government was involved deeply even with the royalty hikes: the CRB is a three-member body appointed by the Library of Congress. Ultimately, though, I think the question at issue here is whether government should in this particular case act in the public welfare or let the markets regulate prices in a way roughly similar to how most other markets operate.

One of the most interesting things about the Internet Radio Equality Act is that it has already attracted a varied base of support within Congress. It's hard to believe Dennis Kucinich, Sam Brownback, and Ron Paul agree on anything...but all three are co-sponsors of the Act! Ron Paul certainly is against government intervention in most things -- much more so than me -- so his cosponsorship of H.R. 2060 is especially interesting. I wonder very much if the members of Congress that are cosponsoring the Internet Radio Equality Act have come to the same conclusion that I have: namely, that the motivation behind the rate increases is to kill off small webcasters so that only cooperative giants remain. If the Act makes it out of committee and is passed, I will rejoice as an individual even though I'm not sure I would have voted for it as a member of Congress. If the Act does not pass, then I feel the music industry will reap what it has sown. I don't see myself listening less to the Internet radio of the future, but it is possible I'll be listening more to independent artists who distribute their music freely online instead of to artists signed to small and large record labels.

Recommended reading: Save Net Radio makes a compelling case in favor of the Act and offers information on how you can voice your support for the Act. The CRB has published the proceedings (PDF) which led to the changes that threaten Internet radio; this document is something of a monstrosity which is not easy to follow, but it does give some insight into the rationale of the judges.