Terrestrial radio is teaming up with record labels to lobby Congress to force relevant platforms (that is, cell phones and other portable electronics) to carry this increasingly unnecessary relic of communication.
Many readers may not be old enough to remember what “FM radio” is, so here’s a quick primer: FM radio is a form of audio communication that was very popular for many decades, before far superior services such as Pandora, satellite radio, and Last FM took hold. FM music radio played the same five (mostly lame) songs over and over for months. The insufferable repetition was punctuated by “DJs” who pandered to the lowest common denominator in their audience with T-shirt giveaways and prank calls involving fart sounds. No one really liked listening to radio, but prior to the technology revolutions of the last decade, it was the only choice in town. FM radio is actually still around today, but its audience largely consists of the elderly, shut-ins, and rural survivalists.
So, FM’s days may be numbered, but it’s not going without a fight! Broadcasters, along with their frenemies in the record industry, are pushing Congress to force all electronic gadgets to carry FM radio. This is not unlike the game plan once implemented by the powerful horse industry who, when facing obsolescence via the automobile, successfully lobbied the government to implement absurd rules on the newer competition to keep them relevant and afloat.
The proposed FM-on-everything stipulation is part of a new bill currently working its way through the House and Senate. The bill originally had nothing to do with mobile tech and everything to do with royalty payments for record labels: Traditionally, FM radio pays royalties to songwriters every time their song is played, but broadcasters were immune from copyright laws requiring them to pay labels and artists for the song (the same is not true for Internet or satellite broadcasters). Now, the slowly-suffocating recording industry is hoping to alter the rules so it will also receive full payment every time one of its songs is played on terrestrial radio.
Broadcasters, of course, don’t want this to happen. One proposed compromise is that radio broadcasters would pay a yearly fee of $100 million (less than they had feared) but would gain far more exposure with a new rule mandating that various types of electronic gadgets, such as cell phones, be FM compatible.
The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents many consumer electronics manufacturers, is rightly pushing back.
“The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity,” said CEA president Gary Shapiro; this move is “not in our national interest.” Mr. Shapiro’s analysis is correct. Hopefully he will be successful in fighting it.
So, the last dying grasps of two dinosaur industries may force you to have an FM receiver on your iPhone that you will never, ever use. Democracy in action!
Via ArsTechnica
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