H.R. 7084

What is in the world is H.R. 7084? It is the legislation that was just passed by the House of Representatives so that internet radio stations can negotiate with artists and labels over performance royalties. The legislation was passed by the House of Representatives and now moves to the Senate. The tricky thing about the Senate is that one Senator can derail the whole thing if he so chooses.

Since Congress is about to go on break, this legislation was necessary to allow SoundExchange to continue negotiations between now and Feb. 15, 2009. SoundExchange basically negotiates deals for websites as a whole so that there is a standard rate for licensing music. Otherwise, these websites would have to negotiate separate deals with each label, and potentially each artist. SoundExchange collects the money from websites and splits it 50/50 between the artists and labels when a particular song is played.

The next step is for the negotiations to center on reducing the rate to license music. Right now, the yearly rate increase will make business unprofitable for sites such as Pandora.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com