[Infowarrior] - RIAA to feds: Make XM-Sirius pay more, restrict listeners' recording

[Richard Forno]

RIAA to feds: Make XM-Sirius pay more, restrict listeners' recording
Posted by Anne Broache
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9741103-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-
1_3-0-20

The Recording Industry Association of America has already mounted a court
challenge against XM Satellite Radio over gadgets like the Pioneer Inno that
allow consumers to trap individual songs originally played on air in alleged
violation of copyright.

Now the industry group is urging that issue to be one of the deciding
factors for federal regulators weighing the proposed multibillion-dollar
union of XM and its sole competitor, Sirius Satellite radio.

In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, the
RIAA urged the agency to "make clear that its approval of a merger is
conditioned upon the continued protection of sound recordings from unlawful
infringement."

Under copyright law, separate licenses exist for the "performance" of a song
and for the recording or "distribution" of it. Satellite and Internet radio
broadcasters (unlike traditional radio) are already required to pay
performance-based royalties.

But the RIAA said it's concerned that both satellite radio companies have
invested in technologies that allow them to shortchange artists on the
distribution side "by giving users the ability to download copyrighted sound
recordings to portable devices, effectively transforming a radio-like
service into a digital distribution subscription service like Rhapsody or
Napster."

A merger could bolster those investments and "seriously threaten the
viability of the music industry as a whole," the RIAA wrote. The group also
called on the FCC to require the merged companies to pay higher royalty
rates in general to the record industry, arguing the firms are "no longer
new, struggling companies" that can get away with paying what it called
"below-market rates."

The RIAA has already earned some U.S. senators' blessings this year for a
bill that would impose new limits on the broadcasters, including a
requirement that they cloak their streams with copy-protection technology,
but the proposal hasn't gone anywhere yet.

XM and consumer advocacy groups that have come to its defense insist that
the devices in question don't violate copyright law because they operate
within a listener's home recording and fair use rights.

The RIAA's comments came on the final day for submitting comments about the
public-interest implications of the XM-Sirius deal in general. As of this
blog post, more than 5,000 comments had been posted to the FCC's online
database. According to a press release distributed Monday afternoon by a
firm representing the radio companies, more than 3,500 of those comments
came from individuals supporting the deal.

The FCC is still accepting comments for at least another month on a more
specific question: whether, if it finds the XM-Sirius deal is hunky-dory for
the public, it should waive a decade-old rule prohibiting a single operator
from controlling all of the satellite radio spectrum.