The last couple of nights, I've been looking into music licensing and so forth. Somebody was asking about the legality of streaming music on the site... like I check these things out! *sheesh*
So I started checking it out.
Here's what a newbie like me has discovered. Bear in mind that this site is actually being hosted in South Korea, where copyright infringement reigns supreme. Nonetheless, Latenight is thematically a Canadian site so I want it to be in line with Canadian policies, of which there doesn't appear to be any concrete enforceable legislation yet. (It's coming but for now, things seem up in the air).
Music Licensing.
Normally, SOCAN handles the licensing for radio stations and other public performances of music, but the legislation to cover user fees related to internet programming is still being debated. At the heart of the issue is Tariff 22. It's goals are to levy a blanket fee on ISPs rather than going after individual users as was the case in the United States last year. A site such as mine, which is operating like a crude radio station, would be expected to pay $0.25 CAD for each subscriber/listener as well as a percentage of advertising revenue. Admittedly, I have put some ads up on the site and if they ever create revenue for me, I'll likely be so shocked that I won't mind handing over a piece of the pie.
For better info, check out the campaign at RantRadio.com:
Other internet battles of 2003
While looking up the SOCAN stuff, I also came across the Toronto Star's A-Z of Canadian Internet Disputes. This one article points to a lot of the fights for control over the internet throughout the past year. It makes for an interesting read on the state of the net in our icy home.
New on this website.
Once again, I'm going to direct you folks over to the "Discuss" tab. The bulletin board is finally working. A number of members have signed up and I'd like to see if we can get some discussions rolling.
You'll also notice some advertisements. I don't suspect they'll equate to a vast fortune... although I do have my eye on one that could be worth the while. On the "Stuff" page you'll see that, in lieu of any real content yet, there is an advertisement for purchasing cigarettes online. I checked the fine print and they say that they are able to ship to Canada. Now I know that a lot of people reading this are smokers. Not only that, but they are smokers who are fed up with paying $13 bucks a pack. (As I said before, I live overseas and it only costs me $2 bucks a pack... ) So, I am relying on some adventurous internet shoppers to give it a go. It might save you some cash on smokes. I just checked, and a cartoon of Marlboros is going for $18.95 US!
Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.
Saturday, January 03, 2004
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