The fight between radio stations and record labels will take another turn tomorrow when the House subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property hears from representatives from both sides, in an effort to determine whether AM/FM stations should start paying performance royalties, as well as whether they should pay the same rates for their online simulcasts that webcasters do for webcasting music.
Taking a step back and looking at all the current squabbling over royalties, a trend is becoming clear. With record sales declining sharply, it's starting to look like the labels no longer care about radio's ability to drive sales, and in fact, may not care much about sales in the future. If nobody's going to buy it, why promote an album for free on the radio? Instead, their thinking seems to go, "let's force radio stations to pay royalties so high that we can survive without selling music."
I don't like what they're trying to do to radio stations and webcasters. But for once, at least, the labels appear to be showing some kind of vision -- even if it is lopsided in their favor.
