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Business, labor urge Bush to sign RIAA-backed copyright bill

WASHINGTON--With only five days left for President Bush to decide whether to sign into law a controversial copyright bill, business lobbyists and even the AFL-CIO are pushing for it to become law.

Most bills to expand copyright law are bipartisan--one aimed at file-swappers and prerelease movies in 2005 comes to mind--and the so-called Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act is no exception. Sens. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, and Arlen Specter, a Republican, are the sponsors, and it enjoys the support of the Recording Industry Association of America.

But the Pro-IP Act is unusual because the Bush administration threatened a vetoRead more

Buzz Out Loud 824: I am the thumb

In today's show, featuring co-host Dan Ackerman, we discuss the benefits of being an independent musician (Dan says it's a great time!), the increasingly furious-yet-futile fight between the MPAA and RealDVD, Delta preemptively filtering porn on planes, and Kid Rock finding a home on the Web, regardless of whether we want him there.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 824

eBay buys Bill Me Later, lays off 1,000 http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10058660-92.html

Judge temporarily halts sales of RealDVD in wake of lawsuit http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081005-judge-temporarily-halts-sale-of-realdvd-in-wake-of-lawsuit.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10058574-93.htmlRead more

Where's the artist outcry over record labels?

Besides the fact that Apple's threat to possibly shut down the iTunes store if regulators approve a royalty hike for artists is utterly ridiculous, the news that artists are actually getting excited about making $0.15 per track instead of the $0.09 they're making now is laughable.

Of course, the musicians were quick to point out that Apple's (and the record labels' by the way, which they fail to cite) idea to change the fee structure from a set payment to a percentage isn't fair either. Apple and other retailers want to set the royalty rate to six percent or $0.048 per track, while the record labels are looking to put the rate at eight percent or $0.056 per $0.99 iTunes track.

Granted, Apple's idea is more than a little ludicrous considering the artists are already making almost twice that on each track and it's fine paying up to the record labels, but why haven't the musicians finally seen the light and spoken out against the labels too? They're trying to undercut the price as well and yet, the musicians have nothing to say to them?

What a joke.

Why do the record labels get a pass when Apple and the rest of the music services are being lambasted by musicians when the record labels are treating them just as poorly? I know, I know: it's all about who pays your bills. Fine. I can accept that. But don't you think that maybe (just maybe) some of these musicians would wise up and realize that their beloved employers are treating them like garbage and the vast majority aren't making nearly as much as they should on each sale on iTunes?… Read more

Muxtape founder 'walked away from licensing deals'

Muxtape founder Justin Ouelette says the bureaucracy of the music industry was just too much for him to deal with. That's why he took down the playlist creation Web site, which became a hipster craze earlier this year, after spreading largely via word of mouth. It'll be relaunching soon, he says, but strictly as a service for independent bands to share their own music.

"I walked away from the licensing deals," Ouelette wrote in a transparent, albeit navel-gazing letter on Muxtape's home page. He'd hired a lawyer and tried negotiating, with varied reactions from … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 817: 3.85G coming soon!

It's an exciting time to be in the market for a confusing incremental upgrade to your wireless broadband speeds, especially if you're into white space. Donald Bell joins the cast today for a rollicking discussion that includes a trifecta of unexpected good news for actual consumers. It's very exciting. Especially the part about the giant human smiley face in Russia. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 817

Judge declares mistrial in RIAA-Jammie Thomas trial http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/not-for-publica.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10050757-38.html

DoJ agrees: IP enforcement bill is a … Read more

Mistrial for RIAA's $222,000 defendant

Updated at 12:10 p.m. PDT with quote from the RIAA.

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the verdict against Jammie Thomas, the peer-to-peer network user ordered to pay the recording industry $222,000 for allegedly sharing music online.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis of Duluth, Minn., declared a mistrial in the case against Thomas, who was charged in October with violating copyright law by making 24 songs available for others to download on the Kazaa network.

Davis set aside the verdict on the grounds that he misguided the jury, telling jurors that simply the act of … Read more

Music groups reach accord on royalties

Five music industry trade groups have reached what they call a breakthrough agreement on how royalties should be handled for streaming music online.

The groups, which represent record labels, music publishers, songwriters, and music Web sites, say their proposal would resolve what has been a source of strife between the music industry and Web sites that offer on-demand streaming services.

Under the agreement, sites like Napster and Imeem would have to begin paying royalties of about 10.5 percent of revenue. Download services like Amazon MP3 and iTunes already pay such fees. And online radio sites saw a major royalty … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 808: Apple, give us our Podcaster!

In today's show, Rafe joins us for a discussion of useless video blobs, the implications of, uh, Internet "shopping," the NPD numbers that read Tom's mind, and the U.S. Senate's "enormous gift" to Big Content (per Ars Technica). Also, we rouse the Buzz Militia from their stupor to launch an attack on Apple's arbitrary and annoying App Store approval process. Save Podcaster!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 808

Committee amends, approves 'enormous gift' to Big Content http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080911-committee-amends-approves-enormous-gift-to-big-content.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10039745-38.htmlRead more

RIAA, MPAA resume lobbying push to expand copyright law

It only took a few days after politicians returned from their summer holidays for Hollywood and the major record labels to resume their legislative push to rewrite and expand digital copyright law.

The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America are lobbying for a pair of bills that enjoy bipartisan support. Both are designed to give the federal government more power to police copyright violations, and both are likely to run into opposition from political foes of the RIAA and MPAA.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the so-called Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act, … Read more