[Dixielandjazz] jazz obit

[David Richoux]

thompson wrote:
> 
> So why worry so much about OKOM on your cable tv?  You can listen to LOTS of
> good stuff over the internet.
> 
> Rebecca Thompson
> Flower Mound, TX

Only if it is going to come from an internet provider that can comply with the new
rules - the RIAA is still trying to make it very difficult for all the "little guys"
- the very ones who actually WANT to play OKOM (whatever you consider that to be..!) 

However, there is a ray of hope for some of us (see article below)

Dave Richoux  "The Jazz Parade"  www.kfjc.org

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/3744432.htm
   Posted on Fri, Jul. 26, 2002





   Congressional bill would benefit small Webcasters
   NEW ROYALTY RATES WOULD BE NEGOTIATED
   By Dawn C. Chmielewski
   Mercury News

   A bill introduced Friday in Congress would exempt hundreds of small Webcasters
from controversial new royalty payments and launch a fresh round of rate hearings
under more favorable terms.

   The recording industry denounced the bill as ``misguided'' -- harming the very
artists the stations rely on for their livelihood. But small Webcasters hailed the
``Internet Radio Fairness Act'' as a  potential life-saver for small independent
radio stations like KPIG in
Watsonville, which suspended its Internet stream last week because it could not
afford the $3,000 monthly royalty fees owed the recording industry.

   More than 75 stations have ceased Webcasting because of the new regulations --
two a day since the rate was set June 20 -- according to the ``Save Our Streams''
Internet site created by Will Robedee, general manager of Rice University's KTRU.

   ``It's basically a stay of execution for Internet radio,'' said Kevin Shively,
director of interactive media for Beethoven.com, one of the Internet's largest
classical music stations. ``It basically means we get another chance to go through
this thing with more fair rules.''

   The measure would void the royalty rate for Internet broadcasters with fewer than
500 employees or annual revenue of less than $6 million.

   Larger Webcasters -- such as radio giant Clear Channel Communications or AOL Time
Warner-owned Spinner -- would still pay 7 cents for every 100 listeners to a given
song; the performance fee that resulted from a federal Copyright Royalty Arbitration
Panel and modified by the Librarian of Congress in June. This new rate went into
effect July 8.

   The little guys would gain another chance to cut a better royalty deal under a
new royalty panel. This new rate would be retroactive to 1998.

   The bill seeks to remove obstacles that prevented all but a dozen small Internet
radio ventures from participating in the initial rate-setting process. One of those
obstacles was a requirement that  participants pay a portion of the government's
cost for the arbitration -- a charge that reportedly exceeded $300,000. It also
seeks to redefine terms -- moving
from a market rate to a ``fairness'' standard that would force the panel to consider
the effect on small business.

   ``We're very jazzed about this,'' said Bill Goldsmith, who operated KPIG's
Internet site. ``If it were to go through, that would give us a lot of breathing
room on this issue. We wouldn't have the present fees hanging over our heads and
we'd be able to participate in the process of setting new fees.''

   Not everyone was thrilled by the legislative initiative. The recording industry
said Congress shouldn't sacrifice songwriters' and performers' paychecks to
Webcasters' unproven business models.

   ``When will recording artists and those who invest their time, energy and
considerable resources to create one of our country's greatest legacies -- sound
recordings -- be allowed to receive fair compensation for their creations?'' said
John L. Simson, executive director of SoundExchange, which collects royalties for
the Recording Industry Association of America.