3 Count: Radio Parity
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1: Bill Seeks to Broaden Royalties Paid by Radio Stations
First off today, Ben Sisaro at The New York Times reports that Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Marsha Blackburn have introduced the Fair Play Fair Pay Act into the U.S. House of Representatives, which, if passed, would require terrestrial radio stations to pay royalties to musicians in addition to songwriters.
Currently the United States is alone in the world in only requiring radio stations to pay royalties on song compositions and not sound recordings. The bill would fix that and bring AM/FM radio into parity with other music services, such as streaming services and satellite radio.
The bill would also make changes to the way other services pay royalties, seeing a single standard for determining royalty rates for satellite and Internet services. Currently, digital streaming, such as Pandora, is charged differently than satellite radio. The bill also proposes royalty payments for pre-1972 sound recordings, which are currently protected under state copyright law, not federal.
2: Amazon, Harper Collins Reach Multiyear Print and E-Book Deal
Next up today, Spencer Soper at Bloomberg Buginess reports that Amazon and publisher HarperCollins have reached a multiyear deal that will govern the sale of print and ebooks on the Web giant.
The deal mirrors similar ones between Amazon and other publishers, including Hachette and Macmillan. However, the Hachette agreement only came after a protracted public battle that saw Amazon pull Hachette books from their ebook store and limit sale of physical books.
There was fear that a similar battle could be on the horizon with HaperCollins but the new agreement averts that potential conflict.
3: Periscope Users Live Streaming Game of Thrones Face Account Closure
Finally today Jenni Ryall at Mashable reports that live streaming service Periscope, a Twitter-owned competitor to Meerkat, has clarified their policies and stated that users who are caught using the service to infringe copyright can have their accounts shuttered.
The announcement comes after several users on the service live streamed the Game of Thrones premiere over the weekend. Meerkat said that its terms of service already forbids the use of the service for the purpose of infringement.
Services such as Meerkat and Periscope had already attracted attention as a possible avenue to piracy after it was revealed several users live streamed Furious 7 during its premiere weekend in theaters.
Suggestions
That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.
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