This Comment suggests that Congress should amend the Copyright Act to ensure that promising new music-based technologies are able to survive. The establishment of a compulsory license for interactive webcasters will help ensure that sound recording copyright owners are properly compensated for their recordings and performances, while also guaranteeing that the public will be able to utilize these copyrighted works to their greatest benefit. As a result of the recording industry’s failed efforts to combat music piracy over the past two decades, Congress must concern itself with the interests and future viability of the entire music industry. By expanding compulsory licensing to cover both noninteractive and interactive webcasters, the dual purposes of copyright law envisioned in the Constitution can best be achieved.
Part I of this Comment provides a discussion of the severe problems music piracy has generated for the recording industry over the past two decades and the many ways in which the recording industry has failed to combat the piracy epidemic. Part II outlines the advancement of music in the digital age, with a particular focus on the importance of streaming technology in the future. Part III chronicles the history of copyright protection for sound recordings, from the initial structure of the digital performance right to the current tripartite framework of the public performance right in sound recordings. Part IV provides further details of the noninteractive webcasting royalty proceedings, detailing the key shortcomings of the current rate structure and the issues that industry participants have been grappling with for the past two decades. Part V argues that compulsory licensing should be congressionally established for interactive webcasters and outlines the general structure that should be adopted. Lastly, Part VI provides a detailed discussion of the economic benefits an interactive webcasting compulsory license rate will have for the recording industry so long as Congress and the major record labels fully embrace streaming technology and interactive webcasting.