MusicUnited.org

Audio Flag

Digital Radio: The Need for Balance and Fair Competition. Rhetoric v. Reality

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Rhetoric
The recording industry is seeking to stop or delay the rollout of HD Radio or other platforms.

Reality
We are excited about the opportunities presented by new HD Radio technology and would like to see it rolled out as expeditiously as possible. But we need to ensure that any rollout occurs in a responsible way that respects the rights of content providers and the legitimate business concerns of other competing platforms.

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Rhetoric
The recording industry wants to prevent consumers from listening to radio as they do today.

Reality
The protections we seek will in no way change the listening experience consumers have come to expect from over-the-air radio. Consumers will still be able to "time-shift" radio programming and hit a record button when a song comes on that they like. We are only concerned with functionality that would allow broadcast programs to be automatically captured and then disaggregated, song-by-song, into a massive library of music, neatly filed in a digital jukebox and organized by artist, song title, genre and any other classification imaginable. Listeners will be able to build entire collections of content without the need to ever purchase any of it; indeed, they won't even have to listen to it. This is not time-shifting. It is not fair use.

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Rhetoric
The RIAA has shown no harm from the rollout of unprotected HD Radio.

Reality
The harm from unprotected HD Radio can be expected to rival or even surpass that from peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, which has already devastated our industry. Radios, unlike computers, are ubiquitous and easy to use. The harm from a rollout of unprotected content on this platform will reach:
• Record companies, artists, songwriters and music publishers, who will suffer from a decline in sales;
• Broadcasters, who will experience a decline in audience, and therefore advertising revenue, as listeners substitute their free music library for radio.
• Advertisers, who will find diminishing returns from advertising on radio; and
• On-demand download music services such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Why pay 99 cents for something you can get for free?

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Rhetoric
A marketplace solution exists.

Reality
A marketplace solution, in fact, does NOT exist because we lack any effective bargaining power. Unlike owners of copyrighted video material, labels and artists have absolutely no performance right in over-the-air radio, and are therefore unable to withhold our content in search of an equitable solution.

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Rhetoric
RIAA is pushing for technology mandates.

Reality
We don't care how content protection is implemented technically. We care about the rules that apply, most importantly not permitting listeners to slice and dice the program or freely redistribute recorded songs over the Internet or on removable media. Again, a broadcast audio flag would be a good way to implement this protection.