A Cell Phone Mandate

There is a bill pending in Congress to require FM radios in cell phones.

The FM chip mandate is an attempt to mollify the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters); under the terms of the Performance Rights Act, the [broadcast- ed.] industry would pay approximately $100 million to broadcast music on terrestrial radio. The inclusion of FM chips in all mobile devices would purportedly give broadcasters access to a wider audience. But it’s the consumer companies (and by extension, the consumer) who get the shaft in this deal.

This is little more than a government-mandated crutch for a legacy technology—no better than the EPA’s attempts to legislate a longer lifespan for incandescent lifebulbs. The high popularity of Sirius, XM, and internet radio shows where the market is headed. This new government mandate apparently removes a “competitive disadvantage” (to quote an EPA spokesman) for AM/FM Radio.

CEA President Gary Shapiro is furious, and rightfully so. “The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity,” he said. “Rather than adapt to the digital marketplace, NAB and RIAA act like buggy-whip industries that refuse to innovate and seek to impose penalties on those that do.” It’s understandable that Shapiro would feel blindsided, since the CEA (the very companies to implement the FM chips) wasn’t consulted.

Having worked in the music industry a long time ago: juke box servicing, juke box mfg., Chief Engineer at a radio station, I can tell you the whole industry is totally mobbed up. I was just discussing it with my mom who used to know a lot of the people in the industry in Omaha and she agrees.

And now the criminals get to whisper in the ears of our government. And just to get a political dig in: is it any surprise when the head of our government comes from one of the most mobbed up cities in the nation?

And who is going to pay for another chip that must be included in the cell phones? Well it is not going to be the music industry. Plus, I wonder if they have considered the antenna issues?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Al Gore's Hockey Stick

Over at Watts Up With That they are discussing Al Gore's
marital and hotel difficulties in relation to a hockey stick graph that is most amusing.

So I thought I'd add a few words to a most ribald discussion.

It was all the fault of improperly labeled RAP music. Just ask Tipper.

Tipper is definitely a victim of No Law.

And for those that don't get the joke: A hint.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Music Is Going To Bits

Tired of fighting the digital revolution the music companies appear to have finally decided to join it.

After years of futile efforts to stop digital pirates from copying its music, the music business has started to copy the pirates.

Online and mobile Relevant Products/Services services offering listeners unlimited, "free" access to millions of songs are set to proliferate in the coming months, according to executives of the recording companies, Internet service providers and cell phone makers who gathered for a music conference [in the U.K.] over the weekend.

Unlike illegal file-sharing services, which the music industry says are responsible for billions of dollars in lost sales, these new offerings are perfectly legal. The services are not really free, but payment is included in the cost of, say, a new cell phone or a broadband Internet access contract, so the cost to the consumer is disguised. And, unlike pirate sites, these services provide revenue to the music companies.

It is about time. However, the music industry's efforts to treat its customers like criminals is going to leave a lingering bad taste.

So what prompted this sudden acquisition of good judgement?

“YouTube is a conduit between artists and fans,” Brian Message, the co-manager of Radiohead, Faithless and Kate Nash, said at the annual Midem gathering of music executives in Cannes, France, this week. “These days an artist can be a global brand and record labels are no longer the only option.”

Digital music sales via the Web and mobile phones climbed 25 percent to $3.7 billion last year, making up a fifth of the global market, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said Jan. 16. Handset makers are providing a new source of revenue for artists by signing deals with music companies to boost sales of smartphones that can download tracks legally online. Artists can also get payments from YouTube for hits on their videos.

“Because of broadband, wireless and the Internet in general, consumers are much more empowered to seek out the music and media they are interested in,” said Aram Sinnreich, co- founder of music industry consulting firm

Radar Research in New York. “The reality is there isn’t going to be a single business model.”

There is nothing like finding out that you are not the only game in town to focus a businessman's mind on business.

The music industry will be increasingly managed online, without the main backing coming from record labels, according to music managers at the conference. That includes online ticket sales, getting per-play licensing payments from YouTube or creating personalized music Web sites on MySpace Music.

I think a good term for this transition might be: Edison joins the 21st Century. And now a days it is not only Edison who is Looking for the band.

Cross Posted at Classical Values