Comments on Musicians Score Win in Webcasting Debate

Yesss!!!

I was actually going to comment on this very topic on yesterday's post, but then didn't. I know I've had some (if minimal) play on various Internet media, but my name is not in their database. So glad this will be corrected.

The RIAA likes to make similar claims about protecting artists, which is pretty hilarious if you examine who they represent.

I agree with Mr. Levislade that this is a good thing, although it will be interesting to see how it plays out in practice. I still haven't figured out how independent artists wiil get paid by this system, or what it intends to do about Creative Commons licenses or similar arrangements where artists waive certain claims to revenue because they want their music to be more widely distributed.

Wait... so until just now, the indie artists weren't getting paid? Why were you arguing beforehand that they were?

@3 - Some artists were getting paid, but it wasn't based on complete, 24-hour playlists (because that would be so hard in this day and age). I believe that, like radio, it was based on random samples extrapolated out, so that people that only got played here (smaller indies) got the shaft.

I can't see how any system could possibly encompass more than a tiny fraction of all music plays, or possibly be enforced. The RIAA likes to send letters to restaurants that play music over the PA, demanding money, but what are they going to do about things like last.fm, or any of the zillion blogs out there?

Why isn't this on Lineout?