No alla discriminazione delle Web Radio

Leonardo Chiariglione in persona riporta sulla lista di discussione della sua iniziativa Dmin.it (un ambizioso progetto per lo sviluppo di un framework interoperabile per la gestione del diritto d'autore digitale), un intervento della Information Technology and Innovation Foundation sulla questione del nuovo tariffario che la Copyright Royalty Board, CRB ha imposto alle Web radio americane che trasmettono via Internet musica protetta da copyright. In un lungo documento curato da Daniel Castro, l'ITIF invoca alcuni radicali cambiamenti alle regole appena entrate in vigore, con particolare riguardo alle tariffe, alle eventuali esenzioni dal pagamento di royalties e all'introduzione di un sistema più flessibile e meno penalizzante nei confronti dei nuovi canali online.

Il documento è troppo lungo ma volevo riportare una sintesi delle tre raccomandazioni di Castro e delle sue conclusioni. In pratica ITIF chiede tra le altre cose:

- norme che assicurino la parità di trattamento tra stazioni radio terrestri e Internet (in pratica si chiede che se le radio via etere sono esentate dal pagamento di copyright tale esenzione debba essere estesa alle Web radio, o che viceversa paghino tutti una cifra più giusta);

- la creazione di un nuovo database dei contenuti e delle tariffe (che devono essere modulabili anche in base alle richieste degli autori);

- la conservazione di una copia di questo database presso la Library of Congress;
- misure (canoni annui per stazione e non per singolo canale trasmesso dallo stesso sito, possibilità di negoziare le royalties direttamente con gli autori) che tutelino le Web radio più piccole e non commerciali dal predominio dei grossi operatori.

Il documento completo può essere prelevato a questo indirizzo.

Recommendation 1: Promote Innovation by Eliminating Technology-Specific Policies
To ensure that Internet radio competes on a level playing field with terrestrial radio, Congress should uniformly apply the performance copyright for sound recordings to all broadcasts. Terrestrial radio should not be the only technology exempt from paying royalties for performances of sound recordings. The sound recording copyright should either be eliminated for all radio or extended to all radio, but Congress should eliminate the disparity between competing technologies. In addition, Congress should ensure that the statutory license include the right to make ephemeral copies of sound recordings. Charging an additional fee for the ephemeral copies discourages broadcasters from using more efficient technology that requires these copies. To encourage innovation, future legislation should ensure that the statutory license includes this right at no additional cost

Recommendation 2: Adopt Competitive Pricing for Statutory License Royalties If Congress decides to apply the sound recording performance royalty to both Internet radio and terrestrial radio, it should change the way in which royalties are set. Every song is not the same, but by creating a statutory license with a single rate for all music, Congress has essentially eliminated competitive pricing for sound recordings. To correct this but still maintain the benefits of a statutory license, Congress should create a new system where sound recording copyright owners can establish separate royalty rates for each sound recording. Congress should mandate that SoundExchange, in conjunction with the Library of Congress, create a national online catalogue of all sound recordings and allow copyright owners to determine the statutory license rate for each of their works at or below a statutory rate. The database would also allow copyright owners to specify separate royalty rates for commercial webcasters, small webcasters, and noncommercial webcasters. Legislation should cap royalty rates so as to limit a broadcaster’s potential liability for broadcasting a song.
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The Library of Congress should maintain an open version of this database as a valuable public resource.

Recommendation 3: Enable Small and Noncommercial Webcasters to Negotiate Separate Royalty Rates
The new statutory rates do not sufficiently address small or noncommercial webcasters (like NPR). Congress should modify the terms of the statutory license to accommodate these webcasters so they can continue to function and copyright owners can continue to receive royalty payments.
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The current decision to require a $500 annual fee per channel imposes an unnecessary burden on broadcasters with numerous channels. If broadcasters provide an aggregated report of usage from all channels to SoundExchange, it would be more appropriate to charge a minimum fee per broadcaster rather than per channel. These changes will allow small and noncommercial webcasters to compete and innovate while ensuring that copyright holders receive adequate compensation.

Conclusion

Internet radio offers benefits to listeners, musicians and the economy; however, the recent CRB ruling reflects a broken system that Congress needs to fix. Internet radio represents the future of broadcast music and it is time for Congress to act to ensure its long-term survival. Implementing these changes will ensure that radio technologies can fairly compete, innovation can thrive, copyright owners can receive fair compensation, and Americans can continue to listen to quality music.