News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
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Some many months ago, I railed against the Downing of Internet Radio—an effort that A) pays artists and labels fairly for the use of their work or B) jacks up royalty rates to such an extent that some consider this nothing less than an attempt by representatives of the music industry to price webcasters and services such as Pandora off the Internet.
Since I penned that article, little had changed -- until this week. The rate hikes haven’t yet been imposed, thus allowing webcasters to continue operations. But Pandora and others suggested that should those rates come about, they would be forced to close shop.
This week, however, there’s been a slight movement on this front, though not the kind of movement necessary to guarantee Pandora’s or webcasters’ future. The Digital Media Association (representing such large outfits as Napster and Rhapsody) and SoundExchange (a division of the RIAA responsible for collecting royalties) have come together to settle a portion of the royalty issues.
Specifically, if the agreement is approved by the Copyright Royalty Board (the panel of three judges who concocted these usurious fees), subscription services such as Napster and Rhapsody, that allow users to rent their music as long as they continue paying the subscription fee, and interactive streaming services—those where the user chooses the music rather than having an entity such as Pandora choose it for them—will pay a royalty of 10.5 percent of their overall revenue. This is more than US-based satellite radio outfits such as XM and Sirius pay, but far better than the per-track-poke-in-the-eye that the Copyright Royalty Board had imposed.
While DiMA and its clients may be breathing a sigh of relief, this action does nothing for broadcasters who push playlists to listeners in the way terrestrial radio does. These broadcasters, which include not only Pandora, but also traditional radio networks such as NPR and your local rock station, continue to face draconian per-track royalty rates. US Congressman Howard L. Berman has been working to negotiate a deal between SoundExchange and webcasters, but little progress has been made.
I understand your local representatives are busy with their accountants this week, but once they’ve packed up their abacuses and snake-oil, you might launch a letter their way suggesting that nothing cheers up a long wait in a soup line like Internet radio streaming to an iPod touch.
January each year sees Apple observers focusing on Macworld San Francisco but just down the road in Anaheim, one of the biggest music product trade shows in the world kicks off at nearly the same time as Macworld. NAMM is the show that any gear-obsessed musician would love to attend at least once in their lifetime – I know it’s on my to-do list. Well over eighty thousand attendees are expected this year and there’s plenty ofnew music gear being announced.
David Holloway | Jan 15, 2008
"Don't forget to get there very, very early", was the advice given to me by practically everyone prior to this morning's Macworld Conference Keynote. "Things get pretty hairy", they claimed -- and they weren't referencing Australian Macworld's fine editor. So at 5am, having been woken by the loud gentleman speaking German VERY LOUDLY, I prepared towander down the chilly streets of San Francisco and wait. And wait, and wait, and wait. Annoyance doesn't quite cover my mood when another Australian journalist makes an appearance two hours later, right behind me.
Alex Kidman | Jan 17, 2008
A young guy with this modification of John Lennon's famous "Imagine"printed in white on an Apple classic black T-shirt is high fiving hisfriends who have just produced "Lotus-eaters", a short music video warning of the dangers of unthinking submission to seductive technologies. They did this in less than 24 hours using the facilities of the new John Lennon Bus, being shown at Macworld Expo 2008 in San Francisco, after its re-launch at the Consumer Electronics Show in LasVegas earlier this month. (The concept has been in existence since 1998).
Martin Levins | Jan 17, 2008
Late last week Palm Inc announced the closure of 30 retail stores -- its entire bricks and mortar presence in the United States -- ending one of Palm's worst years, in my view. One way to measure the depths that Palm has plumbed is to compare it with two other companies. Let's start with Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corporation, better know as HTC. Over the last couple of years HTC has moved from little-known manufacturer to market leader. 2007 saw sales accelerate and the release of a number of different devices. The smartphones it has released have come in a range of form factors and cater for the needs of an increasingly diverse range of users. In my view, HTC has been the most important hardware innovator of the last year or so. Apple has plans in place to open a number of new stores in the coming year -- not only in the United States but in territories where Apple has thus far been absent. The iPhone has achieved for Apple what the original Palm Pilot did for its maker -- putting Apple into the consciousness of all shoppers.
Anthony Caruana | Jan 28, 2008
