You need look no further than the witness list to see that the House Communications Subcommittee hearing entitled “The Future of Audio” is going to be a knock-down, drag-out Capitol Hill main event.
The event kicks off at 10:15 AM on Wednesday 6/6/12.
Here’s the panel
* Mr. Ben Allison, Bassist/Composer and Governor, New York Chapter, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
* Mr. David M. Israelite, President and CEO, National Music Publishers’ Association
* Mr. Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO, Recording Industry Association of America
* Mr. Jeff Smulyan, Chairman, President, and CEO, Emmis Communications
* Mr. Steven W. Newberry, President and CEO, Commonwealth Broadcasting Corp.
* Mr. Tim Westergren, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder, Pandora
* Mr. Christopher Guttman-McCabe, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, CTIA
* Mr. Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Electronics Association
Anybody familiar with recent Hill proceedings on this topic will instantly deduce the presence of FM chips on cell and performance royalties as prominent topics of conversation.
RBR-TVBR observation: Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) could hardly have assembled a more contentious panel — rarely are so many representatives from so many competing interests thrown together in one place.
Anybody familiar with recent Hill proceedings on this topic will instantly deduce the presence of FM chips on cell and performance royalties as prominent topics of conversation.
The only thing missing from the panel is a consumer watchdog. We would also note that radio broadcasters are completely outnumbered – expect radio’s very able representatives – Mr. Smulyan and Mr. Newberry – to more than have their hands full.
