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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 28, 2002)
Broadcasters voice concern about new proposed fees ■The suggested fees for radio stations playing music online have some college broadcasters speaking out with their concerns By John Liebhardt Oregon Daily Emerald College radio broadcasters react ed with guarded optimism about the Librarian of Congress’ rejection last week of proposed fees stations would pay for playing music online. By rejecting the rules proposed by the Copyright Arbitration Royal ty Panel, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has until June 20 to determine how much the streaming fees should be. His deci sion set up a showdown between Internet radio broadcasters and mu sicians over how much royalty fees are owed to musicians when their songs are played over the Internet. “It is time that (Webcasters) finally start to pay the artists and record companies whose creative output is the most important com ponent of their business,” John L. Simson, executive director of the recording industry’s lobbying group for Internet issues Sound Exchange, said in a statement. Journalism professor Al Stavit sky sees the fight over the pro posed rules as part of a larger de bate regarding artists and other content producers working in new media, such as the Internet. Musi cians are closely watching this de bate, he said, because they believe the new rule system will fix short comings in the traditional broad cast royalty fee structure. Present ly, radio stations pay royalty fees to record companies and composers of each song. Stavitsky pointed out that artists who write their own material are compensated for their work. However, singers who cover other people’s material are not compensated when their songs are played on the radio. Local reaction KWVA General Manager Char lotte Nisser joined a growing cho rus of college radio broadcasters in complaining the fees were too re strictive and unfairly hit small, ed ucational radio stations that broad cast on the Internet. Had the fees gone through, she said, KWVA would have been forced to pay an estimated $3,700 more per year in royalty fees to record companies and musicians. KWVA and KPSU at Portland State University decided they will continue to broadcast on the Fossils continued from page 1 Throughout his search, Retal lack cracked open rocks to find a variety of surf, venus, butter and razor clams as well as scaphopod tusk shells and Cretaceous moon snail shells. “It’s just whack and see what you can find,” Retallack said, absorbed in his work. “The best stuff is in side the rock.” Retallack took the specimens worth saving and wrapped them in newspaper to prevent them from being scratched. “A sack-full should do the trick,” he said. Alberto Perez-Huerta, a graduate student in the geology department, said once the fossils reach the class room, students will have an impor tant hands-on chance to learn to identify characteristics such as sci entific classification, original cli Thomas Patterson Emerald KWVA General Manager Charlotte Nisser and Chief Engineer Nathan Cox disagree with fees recently suggested by arbitrators for radio stations broadcasting online. Internet until Billington reaches a decision. “Until we get a cease and desist order, we’ve been told to keep streaming,” said David Jimenez, KPSU station manager. “They’re braver than we are,” said Ann Robinson, assistant direc tor of student media at Oregon State University’s station KBVR. Robinson said the station is ready to begin streaming, but won’t begin until the legal issues surrounding royalties are cleared up. By staying off the Internet, KBVR joined a growing list of college radio sta tions that have pulled the plug on streaming out of fear the royalty fees could be too high to pay. Billington did not give any rea sons for his ruling. While most col lege broadcasters are optimistic, no one is certain if he felt the fees were too restrictive for radio stations. Part of the proposed rules Billington rejected were: • Each station broadcasting on the Internet must pay $500 each year to the recording industry. • Noncommercial radio stations that broadcast on the Internet would have paid two-hundredths of a cent for every online listener per song. • Commercial radio stations that broadcast on the Internet would have paid seven-hun dredths of a cent for every online listener per song. • Stations would have been forced to keep strict records of each song played on the Internet. Nathan Cox, KWVA’s chief engi neer, said that the rules would have unfairly hit small, independ ent radio stations. The main prob mate conditions where the crea tures lived and whether it was a larger predator or a victim of prey. “For us, these fossils are very well preserved,” he said. “They show features of the classical mollusk.” Matt Pearson, project manager with Lease Crutcher Lewis, the gen eral contractor for the project, said the majority of construction work ers are not as intrigued with what they find as people such as Retal lack who study those findings. But he said it’s important for the crews to know what they uncover. “You are always interested in what you find,” Pearson said. “You need to know what’s in the hole.” The dig is not expected to slow down the construction process of the Lillis Business Complex, ex pected to be finished in time for the 2003-04 school year. Retallack has collected fossils from digs all over campus, and said this particular dig is not the largest. He said construction done to lem, he said, was the committee treated all noncommercial radio stations as equals. This is almost unheard of in other negotiations with artists’ organizations such as ASCAP and BMI, which take trans mitter size and audience size into account when deciding on-air roy alty fees. Because KWVA has a smaller transmitter and audience than say, local radio station KLCC, the University station pays less in royalties to these companies. How ever, on the Internet, both stations would have been equals. Online issues The high costs of streaming on the Internet is another issue. KWVA, like other streaming sta tions, must pay for equipment and a site license to RealAudio, their streaming provider. Currently, only 50 people can listen to the station on the Internet at one time. KPSU has only enough equipment to pro vide 30 online listeners, even though the station broadcasts 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. during the week, and noon to 2 a.m. on weekends. When KBVR does go online, they will have capabilities for 20 listeners. With so few listeners on the Web and such a small market share, many college stations asked if it was worth it for the recording in dustry to charge them the same fees as stations with many more online listeners. “How many people are really go ing to listen to us on the Web? Par ents of DJs, former DJs and some people who happen upon us,” Robinson of KBVR said. Turn to Radio, page 7 Start digging People interest'd in doing their own digging at the Lillis Business Complex need to first clear their visitsto the site. They can check in with lease Crutcher Lewis project manager Matt Pearson. The construction company's office is located in the portable trailer closest to McKenzie Hall Visitors must sign liability forms and wear hard hats while on site. Willamette Hall in the late 1980s and to Knight Library and Cascade Hall were all deeper excavations. 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