Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), along with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) have introduced a bill dubbed the PERFORM (Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2006
) Act (the conjurer of acronyms really earned their pay on that one). It is designed to protect we the people from inadvertently wandering away from our consumer feeding tubes, thus depriving the Matrix of its power source.
I listen to quite a bit of internet radio, all of it using streaming mp3 technology. In fact this is my main source of new music — NPR is the only broadcast radio I can stand. This bill would make that technology essentially illegal, since it doesn’t have built in restrictions preventing “music theft.” Actually, this bit may be an out for independent streaming services:
The bill would require cable, Internet and satellite providers to use reasonably available technology to protect the music, IF they want to enjoy the benefit of a government license. If, however, a company wants to use new technologies beyond the scope of a government license then they must go to the record companies directly to negotiate a licensing agreement through the market.
I’m not clear whether stations like SomaFM would want to enjoy the benefit of a government license or not. I’m guessing that the benefit of doing so would be that they would otherwise have to negotiate agreements with every single label (and artist?) they play.
Independent music is already marginalized. The PERFORM Act seems to protect the economic interests of the mainstream at the expense of musical diversity. Time to write a letter to my representative.
Further reading:
Ars Technica article
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Edit:Fixed the link to Senator Feinstein’s site.
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