The House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property has scheduled a hearing May 17 about music on the Internet, with a focus on digital-music licensing.

While no official witness list has been released, sources close to the subcommittee say that the panel will include Lyle Lovett, speaking as an ASCAP songwriter; executives from MP3.com and Liquid Audio; and Ed Murphy, president/CEO of the National Music Publishers' Assn (NMPA).

The hearing announcement comes after April 23 filings before the Copyright Office from two important players in the digital-music imbroglio, which indicates some movement toward smoother sailing as congressional focus on the issue grows. Both MP3.com and the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) asked the office for interim rules or a "safe harbor" to allow services to obtain a compulsory license for on-demand streams or limited downloads during the months before the office rules later this year on the types of transmissions to be included and, possibly, a to-be-determined royalty rate.

'A compulsory license guarantees access to users to all copyright work. Instead of individual marketplace license negotiations, the government, after input from the parties affected, sets a royalty fee to be paid to rights holders.

'The request is a turnaround for the RIAA, which earlier had opposed a compulsory license.

'The NMPA and the Songwriters Guild of America, seeking a higher royalty rate through marketplace negotiations, opposed the request in a joint filing.

'The subcommittee hearing on licensing will mark the first time the music industry and E-commerce community will enter the realm of the new boss of the subcommittee's parent Judiciary Committee, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who set the hearing agenda and date. Since taking the reins from Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., in January, he has ruled his committee and his subcommittees with an iron hand.

'Sensenbrenner is "micro-managing from above," says one congressional observer. "Nobody sets their own agenda, nobody decides on witnesses, nobody sneezes without his prior approval. It's causing some disgruntlement."

'The little Sensenbrenner has said publicly this year about the content-side players in the digital-music arena gives little hope to either the RIAA or the performing right societies to which he is an ally. He is the author of 1998 legislation that carved out an exemption for restaurants and mall shops from paying background music royalties to performing right societies (Billboard, Feb. 11, 1995). He held up all copyright legislation in the House for two years until his law was passed, an approach that rankled many of his colleagues.

'Speaking before E-commerce members of the Digital Music Assn. March 28, Sensenbrenner referred to U.S. entertainment companies as "copyright cartels" and lashed out at ASCAP and BMI, saying that the government rules they operate under, which mandate that the organizations must make licenses available for their music, are outdated and unfair. He said, "The Justice Department has basically given them a free pass on this, and I don't think that's right" for licensing in the digital age (Billboard, April 7).

'Sensenbrenner also took a potshot at the RIAA's digital services royalty collection outfit, SoundExchange, characterizing it as possibly an "antitrust violation" to be "looked at" in the future.

'The chairman's views of the concerns of music publishers and recording artists are unknown. "I guess you could call them 'X factors,' " says one music industry insider here. "We will see what we will see."

'Despite the slightly ominous background Sensenbrenner brings from past encounters and statements about segments of the music industry, veteran Hill observers says that the new chairman's approach is not unusual. "Some other committee chairmen work like that, where the top dog calls the shots. I think everybody had gotten used to Hyde's looser style. He'd tell his subcommittee chairmen, 'Hey, do what you feel is best; just keep me in the loop.' But not Sensenbrenner," notes one observer. "You're not going to see subcommittee chairmen taking [passed] bills to the [House] floor. He's the kind of guy who takes every bill to the floor himself. Most folks are getting accustomed to the change. Some aren't."

'Some had thought that the new chairman by now might have unveiled an intellectual property agenda for the session as broad as that of his Senate counterpart, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, who announced months ago at the beginning of the session that this committee would review a large number of Internet issues and held a hearing last month that looked at Internet music label and music publisher licensing and how artists fare from it (Billboard, April 14).

'But Sensenbrenner continues to hold his plans close to his chest, doling out items one by one. For example, the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., just held its first hearing of the new session May 2, a procedural Copyright Office oversight meeting.

'Sensenbrenner, who was hosting visiting members of Japan's Diet (Parliament), was unavailable to comment