Compulsory License
Compulsory music licenses to get Congressional overhaul courtesy of “Mr. Hollywood”
“Howard Berman, the California Democrat who now heads the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, wonders if it’s time for everyone to pay the same fees. “Is it finally time for a performance right to extend to terrestrial radio?” he said this morning. It was just one of the many questions raised at a committee hearing on reforming Section 115 of the Copyright Act, the part that covers compulsory licenses (the same kind of license that AllofMP3 claims to have under Russian law, and which the RIAA rejects). Reform of this section stalled last year, but Berman is giving it another shot.”
Join the Discussion at Ars Technica
Collecting a performance right for terrestrial radio is long overdue and now is the time. If you are going to enforce a mechanical on Satellite and Internet broadcasters, radio needs to pony up as well.