Unsigned/small-label Acts To Be Topic Of Web Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The issue of whether unaffiliated U.S. recording artists or those signed to small independent labels have been able to take full economic advantage of the Internet will be the subject of an overview hearing May 24 by the House of Representatives' Small Business Committee.
The music-related hearing is unusual for the committee, but a spokesman explains that since unaffiliated and small-label artists have been pioneers on the Net, both in selling product and offering sound snippets or full downloads, the lawmakers want to study how they have fared in the new digital/electronic marketplace.
As a staffer for the committee explains, "The committee members want to see how these artists can take advantage of the new digital means of distribution."
Committee staff will demonstrate the "legal" downloading of music from an MP3 site at the hearing, according to a staffer.
Independent musicians and musical groups, many of whom constantly tour throughout the country or in their regions, have used Web sites and E-commerce as adjuncts to the normal business of selling their CDs in local stores and at gigs.
One certain line of questioning the committee members are expected to pursue is whether any of the many thousands of independent artists on the Web, including relatively unexposed regional and local artists, can achieve the necessary exposure to develop a large enough listenership to sell enough product to survive without the publicity and marketing exposure provided by larger labels.
With the growth of the digital marketplace and home recording studios, tens of thousands of artists, from seasoned pros and non-mainstream phenomenons to rank amateurs and beginners, have crowded the information superhighway with music. Most face the same problem-how to inform consumers and get their attention.
Internet music fans may have choices-in fact, there are endless pages of artist and band listings-but often have no way of knowing which artists or recordings would satisfy their musical desires.
The committee overview, says the spokesman, also may give lawmakers a better idea of how-and whether-small businesses in other fields can compete for Internet-derived dollars.
Atomic Pop rap artist Chuck D, formerly with Def Jam/Universal, is one of the first confirmed witnesses who will testify at the hearing. Peter Harter, EMusic.com VP of of global public policy and standards, will also offer his perspective. The Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) is expected to present a witness from one of its smaller member companies. Other unaffiliated and independent-label artists are expected to testify but have not yet been announced.
The committee spokesman also says that members may ask witnesses questions about such issues as the ownership of intellectual property, the economic expectations of posting recordings on MP3 sites, the debate over "free" Internet music, and the controversial "work made for hire" law.
According to a Capitol Hill observer, while some members of the Small Business Committee, such as Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., and Rep. Karen McCarthy, D-Mo., are "up to speed'' on E-commerce and music sites, others are not as familiar with the sites or "how you actually buy something on the Internet, whether it's music or an antique quilt on eBay. It should be educational for them."
The event precedes a May 25 hearing before the House Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. There, lawmakers will listen to objections by the recording-artist community and copyright experts to a new law that has amended the Copyright Act to make sound recordings "works made for hire."
Artists' groups contend that the change in the law, put forward by the RIAA, which represents the five major music companies, robs artists of once-guaranteed rights under the Copyright Act to gain ownership of their recordings in 56 or 35 years, depending on when the recordings were made.