Thursday, April 11, 2002

College Broadcasters Fear Tracking Rule May Force an End to Webcasts By ANDREA L. FOSTER Washington A federal proposal that would require radio stations to keep a detailed record of the songs they broadcast over the Internet has some college stations worried that they may be forced to end online broadcasts. The proposed regulation (which can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free), by the U.S. Copyright Office, would require radio stations to provide the recording industry reports that, for each song they play, would list: the song title, the artist or group that performed it, the retail album title, the recording label, the catalog number, the International Recording Code, and the date and time of transmission. In addition, while the song is broadcast, stations would have to show online the song name, artist, and album title. And they would need to maintain a "listener log" to include the date and time listeners logged in and out of the broadcast, and their identifiers. The Copyright Office released the proposal in response to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act and at the prodding of the Recording Industry Association of America, which wants to monitor radio stations' compliance with their operating licenses. The plan was released in February, and public responses to it were disseminated this month. The proposal is the latest regulation inspired by the new copyright law to cause a stir among college radio stations. Also in February, the Copyright Office proposed fees that radio stations would have to pay the recording industry to broadcast music over the Internet, and college stations complained that the payments were too high. (See an article from The Chronicle, March 8.) WHRB-FM of Harvard University is among college stations urging the Copyright Office to exempt nonprofit broadcasters from the reporting requirement. Alternatively, the station wants the office to impose less onerous reporting requirements, similar to those specified by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. "If the proposed rules were to be made final without change, WHRB would have to cease Webcasting immediately," wrote Mona Lewandoski, president of WHRB, in a letter to the Copyright Office dated April 5. Many listeners, in particular those outside the Boston area, would no longer be able to hear WHRB's blend of jazz, classical music, underground rock, and opera, she stated. In order to comply with the regulation, she wrote, the station would need to install a commercial software and hardware automation system to track streamed music -- at a cost of $70,000 to $100,000 -- and generate a comprehensive database for its entire library of 750,000 songs. To create such a database would require volunteers who run the station to enter by hand 750,000 songs, plus an additional 1,000 new songs acquired each week. And to complete the process, the station would need to spend $25,000 to $50,000 on computer terminals and customized database software, Ms. Lewandoski stated. "The station believes it will take approximately 10 years, given the current level of volunteer human resources, to have 70 percent of its collection cataloged," she wrote. WOBC-FM of Oberlin College raised similar concerns, but also told the Copyright Office that the "listener log" could be viewed as invading listeners' privacy. Other organizations objecting to the proposed regulation include Collegiate Broadcasters Inc., which represents 21 college stations; the College Broadcasters, which represent 13 stations; and the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, which has 773 member stations, 243 of which report broadcasting over the Internet. Officials of the Intercollegiate system say broadcasting over the Internet is the only viable alternative for many college stations that can't afford traditional broadcasts. "In these situations, Webcasting provides students the only opportunity for long-term, hands-on application of their learning," William Malone, a lawyer for the system, wrote the Copyright Office. "The interdisciplinary nature of this use of technology engages students from far-flung departments, such as computer science, management, marketing, graphic design, music, and library science, as well as broadcasting or journalism." Lawyers for the Copyright Office declined to comment. The office is accepting responses to the public comments through April 26. Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said of the colleges' complaints, "We understand their concerns, but we have not yet decided what kind of reporting requirements make sense for noncommercial radio stations." Background articles from The Chronicle: Proposed Fees for Broadcasting Songs Online Worry College Radio Officials (3/8/2002) Campus Radio Station Dumps Internet Broadcasts Because of Uncertainty Over Fees (9/28/2001) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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