Radio stations and internet streaming question

[Southpaw]

Every day I listen to a local radio station over the internet. Today, I was greated by this message:

Due to RIAA guidelines and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we are unable to stream The Drive’s Thursday Artist Portrait of Elton John programming. The stream will be back on at 11:59pm. Thanks for clicking on WDRV.com, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Just what is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act? Why is this station forbidden from streaming today? Why can this same station play Elton John songs on their internet-only “album cuts” station?

I don’t get it.

[Walloon]

My guess is that the station did not create the program, but bought it from a distributor. And under the license from the distributor, the station could play the program only within the station’s local broadcast market. Playing it over the Internet would in effect being playing it for a national, or international, market. The rate for a performance license for a syndicated program is based partially on the market’s listenership.

WDRV is free to create, broadcast, and stream its own program about Elton John.

[JohnBckWLD]

…Or perhaps this “Artist Portrait of Elton John” program included album sides. TTBOMN, radio stations are not allowed stream their signal when they play full sides of an album. Thursday’s between 8-9PM on WFUV.org’s stream, their ‘CD Of The Week’ program with Corny O’Connell is blacked out entirely. I opresume it’s due to a regulation within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent piracy (i.e. recording the digital program and copying it).

Pesronally, in your instance, I wouldn’t complain. Anything that exceeded a 1/2 hour of Elton John music would send me out searching for long screwdriver to gouge out my eardrums

[Southpaw]

@Walloon

My guess is that the station did not create the program, but bought it from a distributor.

I don’t think that’s it. When they do the artist of the day, it just means they play two songs in a row by that artist every hour or so (not album sides or anything like that). The DJs also give some trivia tidbits and such. Besides, last week they streamed the artist of the week.

@JohnBckWLD

Pesronally, in your instance, I wouldn’t complain. Anything that exceeded a 1/2 hour of Elton John music would send me out searching for long screwdriver to gouge out my eardrums

Oh, I’m not complaining, too much Reg Dwight is never a good thing.

I’m just curious about this whole Digital Millennium Copyright Act thing.

[Walloon]

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Truthfully, it had nothing to do with the millennium, but the title had a pretentious ring to it.

Title IV has to do with webcasting of sound recordings on the Internet:

As discussed above, in 1995 Congress enacted the DPRA [Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act], creating a performance right in sound recordings that is limited to digital transmissions. Under that legislation, three categories of digital transmissions were addressed: broadcast transmissions, which were exempted from the performance right; subscription transmissions, which were generally subject to a statutory license; and on-demand transmissions, which were subject to the full exclusive right. Broadcast transmissions under the DPRA are transmissions made by FCC-licensed terrestrial broadcast stations.

In the past several years, a number of entities have begun making digital
transmissions of sound recordings over the Internet using streaming audio technologies. This activity does not fall squarely within any of the three categories that were addressed in the DPRA. Section 405 of the DMCA amends the DPRA, expanding the statutory license for subscription transmissions to include webcasting as a new category of “eligible nonsubscription transmissions.”

In addition to expanding the scope of the statutory license, the DMCA revises
the criteria that any entity must meet in order to be eligible for the license (other than those who are subject to a grandfather clause, leaving the existing criteria intact). It revises the considerations for setting rates as well (again, subject to a grandfather clause), directing arbitration panels convened under the law to set the royalty rates at fair market value.

Translation: broadcasts are exempt from performance licensing, but webcasts are not. The radio station needed to get a performance license for its webcast. Apparently the royalty rates for Elton John songs were not amenable to them.

[MsRobyn]

@Walloon

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Truthfully, it had nothing to do with the millennium, but the title had a pretentious ring to it.

Title IV has to do with webcasting of sound recordings on the Internet:Translation: broadcasts are exempt from performance licensing, but webcasts are not. The radio station needed to get a performance license for its webcast. Apparently the royalty rates for Elton John songs were not amenable to them.

Royalty payments for web or terrestrial broadcast are flat; they don’t vary by artist. (I’d look up a cite, but it’s in a mind-numbing 40±page contract BMI makes you sign.)

I’m guessing that either that station doesn’t have a webcast contract with whichever of the three agencies represents Elton John or the distributor of the program denied a webcast license. This often happens when a program is to be distributed to more than one station. The distributor might grant webcast exclusivity to a handful of stations to keep the competition down. Meanwhile, everyone else has to pound sand.

Robin