Current Events About Internet Radio
In 1998, President Bill Clinton passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, DMCA, was signed into law. It was signed to keep up with the modifications of digital media innovations, and it protects copyrighted material that is accessible on the Web. How does this law impact World wide web radio? It limits radio stations online from copyright infringement and streaming music without paying royalties and licensing fees. This law created a lot of controversy between conventional radio station and radio stations on the Internet. In recent news, the controversy is shedding light again in Congress.
President Obama is now discussing royalty laws with Congress about conventional radio stations. In the current DMCA law, only radio on the web has to pay a royalty to performers in addition to the songwriter. They have to pay publishing and performance royalties. Presently, conventional radio stations only pay the publishing royalty which is paid to the songwriter and not the singer. Recent headlines in the news now report that the Obama administration is endorsing that radio stations ought to now pay performance royalties as well.