RIAA, NAB want mandatory FM radio in mobile electronics

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
Staff

Music labels and broadcasters have been at odds for years over whether the FM radio industry should pay performance rights to artists and labels when a song is played on air. Unlike Internet and satellite services, FM radio only pays songwriters under the current framework, and they believe they're exempt from the fees because they provide a valuable promotional tool.

Looking to resolve the conflict, both sides hope to ink an agreement: radio would pay $100 million a year, and in return it would gain a massive listener base through the forced inclusion of FM radio chips in portable devices. Thus, the RIAA and NAB are pushing for a Congressional mandate that would require cell phones and other mobile electronics to carry an FM receiver.

Strongly opposed to the idea, the Consumer Electronics Association (whose members would be affected) said the proposal is "the height of absurdity" and "not in our national interest." The NAB shrugged off those remarks saying that trade associations "always oppose new rules," adding that widespread FM access would be handy from a public safety perspective.

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The RIAA needs to be killed and then Cromwelled. Articles like this make me want to grab my laptop and stand inside a record store and burn CDs for free for anyone who was going to pay for one.
 
let the *****s pay $100 million dollars for this, just because it's there doesn't mean anyone will use it.
 
I'd love to see them force Apple to add a fm tuner in the iphone/ipod/ipad. Apples lawyers haven't had that much to do lately.
 
I don't bother with terrestrial radio. I switched to Sat radio almost 10 years ago.
Yeah, paying for something most people get free...I get a LOT of that, but, I tell
them I get NO commercials on the music stations I listen to, plus, when traveling
I can tune into some of the cable news channels, sports, talk without hunting all
over the dial, I can store songs, artist for later playback, and did I mention that
I have no annoying commercials on the music channels? Plus, I get a better
VARIETY of music, not just the "top 20" cycled over and over and over during
the day. Oh, I get NO commercials on the music channels...in case I missed
pointing that out ;)
 
I don't like the idea on the simple principle I don't like having something shoved down my throat especially when it be by the gov't and obnoxious organizations like the RIAA.
 
TorturedChaos said:
I don't like the idea on the simple principle I don't like having something shoved down my throat especially when it be by the gov't and obnoxious organizations like the RIAA.
this
 
I never , ever, used my FM radio in any of my mobiles, and any of my mp3 palyers....why would anyone still want FM radio???
 
I don't own a cell phone for this reason, I don't like you, and I don't want you calling me in the first place, period. I drive a motorcycle, the iPod's earbuds would probably blow out every block or so, at least every block that you weren't being pulled over for wearing them. Well, to tell the truth, I don't like iPods either.

That said, the RIAA can go f*** themselves.

How do they think of this crap anyway, have their directors and lawyers eat bowel loosening foods and hold their board meetings in the s***house?
 
Captain, I'm with you. On what grounds should the government interfere in a free market? That's the most hairbrained idea I've heard in a while.
 
Sure RIAA lets do that and require an AM receiver and a telegraph wire connection too... while we're at it, include a flint and steel so that we can light a fire for smoke signals.. Someone please push the RIAA and their lawyers off a cliff...
 
I like the idea of having FM radio in newer mobile electronics, help keep radio alive, but I have never liked mandatory anything. In a free society, forcing companies to do something like this is just plain wrong and smacks hard of socialism.
 
In a free society, forcing companies to do something like this is just plain wrong and smacks hard of socialism.
Well, with all due respect, I think that there's good socialism and bad socialism. Having the Government force drug companies to price drugs reasonably, Wall Street Bankers to control CEO pay and accept more controls on loans and such, would be "good socialism".

However, I wholeheartedly agree that the RIAA and its lawyers are an arrogant pack of parasites, and "good socialism" in this case would be having the government pass heavy control legislation on them, as opposed to what it does now, which is accept campaign "donations", and pander to their psychotic excursions from reality.
 
How much can in agreement I am with you on that!

Also, the precidence of this 100 million price means that the music industry can increase this valueover time with all sorts of claims of inflation etc. The true is that most music would not make it with out radio and they are doing the music industry a favor. They are scraping every last thing to wretch money out of anything they try to rationalize as owing them.

Regarding FM devices. Forcing any device moble device manufaturer to include anything additional hardware unless it is for physical safety based on best practices, is just crazy talk. There needs to be legistlation to desolve organizations that are formed from bottomless pocketed corps that can group resouces to attack and control/modify our law system and populous in such away which is in their interest.

I'm totally against corp entities being able to have the same rights as individual citizens (maybe even more) and also have the resources and 100 or even thousands of people/minds behind them. These are the kinds of legislation reforms that the "people" need.
 
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