Reply #4: Thanks. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that unlike

[beachmom]

so many other issues, this is not a partisan issue. Democrats are split and Republicans are split. There are competing interests going on here: both big corporate and little guys, on either side.

I have reflected some more on this issue, and the one thing that interests me is fairness among the three categories of radio: satellite, internet, and terrestrial.

Just remember there are two types of royalties: publishing (to whoever wrote the song) and performance (the actual recording).

The way it swings out is here:

1. Terrestrial radio: pays publishing royalties only. Currently pays 0 for performance royalties.
2. Satellite radio: pays both publishing royalties and performance royalties, but at a more reasonable rate.
3. Internet radio: pays both publishing royalties and performance royalties, at a much higher rate than satellite.

Internet radio is targeted unfairly here because its digital medium was viewed as a "perfect copy" of a CD, which it is not. It is not a download, but streaming; however, copyright law from the '90s does not make that distinction. I find this ridiculous. Especially since internet radio (even the big corporate ones like AOL or Yahoo) is far superior to Satellite and Terrestrial in terms of quality programming and incredible variety.

I guess to me, if performance royalties are here to stay, then they should be shared among all three radio platforms equally. So I would support the terrestrial radio performance royalty only if an amendment was added that this is regardless of platform. Why should greedy record companies take advantage of a loophole and target one medium above the others? Make the rate reasonable and put in a lower rate for smaller radio stations, for internet radio and local FM radio (Satellite is only big companies).

Edit:

To be clear, I am talking about music here. Clearly, Sat Radio is about more than music, and for long commuters I would think Sat Radio is a must have for the car if you can come up with the $12/month.