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After writing directly to Senator Boxer, and Senator Feinstein last week I received two responses today.

Senator Feinstein's response:

Dear Mr. Andersson:

Thank you for writing to me with your concerns about the Copyright Royalty Board's recent decision on the statutory rate for music webcasting. I understand your concerns and appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Under the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004, Congress - at the behest of webcasters - created the Copyright Royalty Board which consists of three judges. By law, the judges are a venue of last resort and are required to periodically set rates for various statutory copyright licenses in the event that webcasters and copyright owners are unable to reach voluntary agreements. In the absence of an agreement, the judges set a rate designed to approximate the fair-market value that webcasters should pay to artists and performers for streaming their music for the years 2006-2010. The new rate that was established is less than a 5 percent increase of the rate in effect from 1998-2005.

Although a few webcasters have recently claimed that the process was unfair, it was not arbitrary and allowed representatives from all sides to make their cases. The judges began the proceedings in 2005, and heard testimony from dozens of witnesses and conducted a comprehensive review of tens of thousands of pages of evidence submitted by all interested parties over an 18-month period.

While some webcasters may choose to pay this rate, independent negotiations between the parties are still possible and this new statutory rate would serve as the ceiling. Additionally, if it appears that the new rate will reduce the overall amount of webcasting - as well as the overall income from this stream of revenue - the copyright owners may still have an incentive to offer webcasters a rate less than the statutory rate.

I am a strong believer in intellectual property rights and believe that artists and performers have earned the right to be fairly compensated for the broadcast of their works by webcasters who benefit - financially and otherwise - from their talents. Without fair compensation, these artists would not create their works.

Once again, thank you for writing. Should legislation addressing this new rate or the rate-setting process come before the Senate, I will be sure to keep your concerns in mind. In the meantime, if you should have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, DC staff at (202) 224-3841.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

and Sentor Boxer's response:

Dear Mr. Andersson:

Thank you for writing to me regarding proposed changes to the assessment of royalty fees that Internet radio broadcasters pay to musicians and record labels. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue.

As you may know, the federal Copyright Royalty Board recently released its plan for charging online radio broadcasters for royalties.

As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications issues, I am following this matter very closely. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind should legislation on this issue be considered.

Again, thank you for writing to me. Please keep in touch with me about this and any other issue of concern to you.

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Senator Boxer's response was a very canned response that doesn't say much to me. Senator Feinstein's response speaks a lot more to the issue, and I don't find it very positive. Has anyone else out there received response's? If you are in California was the response exactly the same?

Posted by christopher andersson at 11:06 AM

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I received an e-mail this morning from my Senator (Barbra Boxer) which thanked me for my interest in public policy, but "Unfortunately, limited resources do not allow me to respond to e-mails generated by third-party organizations."

The e-mail went on to explain that if I wanted a reply that I would have to use a specific form for her "e-mail system".

I followed the link and filled out the form using the subject and body from the petition at savenetradio.org, and I encourage you to do the same!

Posted by christopher andersson at 10:51 AM

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If you drive on Venice Blvd. west in Los Angeles near the intersection of South Centinela and you look at the billboards on your right you will see this:

The first time I saw it it reminded me of the problems that google was putting up on billboards in Cambridge, MA and Silicon Valley. Except that this seemed to be much more cryptic. On the drive I pondered the meaning of the sign, and what the riddle could be.

Was it a jumble word with some hints? Did something significant happen in New Jersey with an algorithm? Did the orange color and block type give some clues?

Then as soon as I got to work I quickly searched for "The algorithm is from jersey."; apparently I've just been sucked into an ad campaign for Ask.com.

That was no fun at all.

Sometimes I wish the internet and all it's knowledge didn't exist. I was having fun thinking about this problem, and it would have bothered me for weeks if I didn't have such easy access to all the worlds knowledge. Arguments with friends are not nearly as much fun anymore since they are put to rest almost as soon as they start with a few keystrokes.

Then again without the internet I wouldn't have found out after watching Napoleon Dynamite, and arguing with my girlfriend that there actually is such thing as a Liger.

Posted by christopher andersson at 12:26 PM

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I just switched over to feed burner, and redirects are in place to push any traffic from the current feeds to feed burner's feed. I will continue to publish the feeds in their old location for a few weeks and then will disable them.

Posted by christopher andersson at 3:23 PM

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The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC is looking to triple royalty rates for internet radio stations. If you value services such as Yahoo! LAUNCHcast, Pandora or Last.fm then you need to go to savenetradio.org and fill out the petition. The site looks like it's getting a lot of traffic right now, and could be a little slow so please be patient!

Quote below from a Pandora e-mail:

"I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora."

Posted by christopher andersson at 9:27 AM

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I was at the KCRW Sounds Eclectic Evening last night held at the Gibson Amphitheater. I arrived about 45 minutes late and missed Bitter:Sweet, but was just in time to see Cold War Kids. "We Used To Vacation" gets stuck in my head routinely, and it was really satisfying to hear it live.

The next act up was Rodrigo y Gabriela, and this is when I noticed that the stage was circular and would spin to reveal the next act. I didn't know what I was in for when these two took the stage, but if you haven't seen them play live I highly recommend it. Gabriela's hands move so quickly and nimbly as she strums and hits the side of her guitar in one fluid motion that it's hard to comprehend even as you watch it go down right in front of you. During a little "battle" on stage Rodrigo played a playful version of Stairway to Heaven which segued into some Michael Jackson, and Metallica...regretfully I can't recall either of the specific tracks, and then back into Stairway to finish off.

Travis was the surprise guest which I am not too familiar with, and can't say that I am too intrigued to learn more about them after seeing them live.

Lily Allen was up next, and I suddenly grew very conscious of the number of teen something girls surrounding me. I haven't paid much attention to Lily Allen's music either other than what I've been forced to at retail locations. Again I can't say that a live performance changed my opinion...

Finally the headliner was The Shins and at this point my eyes were starting to roll back in my head as the climax for the night had definitely already happened about 3 acts before them.

Found a few pictures from someone who also shared a mezzanine seat here:

http://mynameisgee.blogspot.com/2007/04/sounds-eclectic-evening.html

Despite the fact that the music of the evening isn't exactly my thing I did enjoy it. It was a real treat to see Rodrigo y Gabriela, and I enjoy supporting KCRW as they are really the only terrestrial station worth listening to in the country in my experience.

Posted by christopher andersson at 10:57 AM

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I can't resist it.

I just had to show a little footage of the puppy in action:

Posted by christopher andersson at 3:46 PM

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