Musicians, Record Companies Ponder Future of Music

Broadcast: Jan 11, 2003

 

The conference opened with a ¹⁾rousing ²⁾gospel song featuring Lester Chambers¹ and the incoming Chairman of the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, Jonathan Adelstein. The chairman was on ³⁾harmonica.

Chairman Adelstein in his suit and tie ⁴⁾juxtaposed against Lester Chambers dressed casually² in a leather jacket, set the tone for the entire conference. The audience was made up of artists with unique clothing and hairstyles next to professionals in business attire³. FCC Chairman Adelstien encouraged the diverse group to unify⁴ and make their voices heard. "It's critical that artists like yourselves become involved in the policy battles here in Washington," he said. "While the FCC doesn't oversee⁵ copyright law, the industries we oversee play a key role in distributing copyrighted material including: music, movies and television programs."

The FCC oversaw⁶ the 1996 Telecommunications Act enacted⁷ by Congress, which among other things - loosened radio ownership rules. After the 1996 act was enacted, Clear Channel and Viacom went from a combined 130 stations to more than 1,400.

In a study conducted two months ago, The Future of Music Coalition⁸ examined how consolidation⁹ in the commercial radio industry affected¹⁰ the music Americans hear. Ric Dube was one of the researchers for the coalition. "The argument for deregulation was that if one person was allowed to own several radio stations in a specific market, then they're going to want to counter-program, because they're not going to want to compete with their multiple properties," said Ric Dube. "It's actually a pretty compelling argument. Even though it might look like there are more and more different formats¹¹ in a given market, they're playing many of the same songs. So even though the appearance is that radio is more different and varying, instead it's more and more ⁵⁾homogenized."

If radio is really less open to new or more diverse music, where can musicians turn to be heard and promoted? Does the Internet hold a key? According to John Flansburgh of the alternative rock band "They Might be Giants," the answer is yes and no. "I don't think there's anything dangerous about a semi-professional or amateur songwriter posting his MP3 on the net and getting an email from some guy in Ireland saying, 'I like your song.' I think that's kind of great," he said. "But after a certain point, it seems like there's so much cultural noise that it's hard to figure out what could possibly be good. If you're inundated¹² with a bunch of websites and bunch of home produced things that all look like they're home produced, there's something unappealing about trying to work your way through it."

Sites like MP3.com offer a free outlet¹³ for independent musicians to be heard and promoted. While this is a nice service, the consumer is the one who has to find that rare musical gem¹⁴. With more and more people uploading recordings¹⁵ to independent music sites, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find that musical gem.

Is there any hope for new musicians? Internet radio, while small now, is expected to grow especially once wireless¹⁶ Internet becomes a common service.

Unlike FM or AM stations, Internet broadcasters aren't limited in number and can be heard around the world.

However, new music licensing¹⁷ fees and reporting requirements have already discouraged a number of would-be Internet broadcasters from continuing. Another opportunity for up and coming musicians has its roots in the filesharing service Napster, the free music-sharing service that was shut down and deemed illegal by record companies. ⁶⁾Rhapsody is a legal music streaming and downloading service. For 99 cents, a person can copy a single track to a recordable CD. So for about the same price as buying an album in a record store from a single artist, a Rhapsody user can create his or her own compact disc with just the songs they want to hear. In addition to the per-song copying charge, there is also a monthly fee that allows users to listen to any song in Rhapsody's catalog that they choose. You can think of it as an Internet ⁷⁾jukebox that you control.

Tim Quirk¹⁸ of Rhapsody says that this jukebox service really offers an opportunity for new musicians as well as established ones. ""The first two weeks that someone signs up they just listen (you know) to all the people you'd expect them to," said Tim Quirk. "And then from the 15th day on, they just spend their time exploring and listening to new stuff. Once you're paying the $9.95 a month, basically it cost you zero dollars. It costs you nothing but time to check out stuff."

Every time a song is played or downloaded on Rhapsody, the publisher of the music is paid a royalty¹⁹ fee.

At the Future of Music Conference, the FCC chairman and Lester Chambers both noted²⁰, "There's a big train coming," indicating more changes are on the way for the music industry in the near future. There is the possibility that Congress will allow further consolidation of radio and television stations. Also, the opportunities and ⁸⁾pitfalls the Internet presents will spur continued debate about copyright law and ways to protect digital content.

For VOA, I’m David Clements.

 

 

1) rousing[5rauziN]adj. 鼓舞人的, 活跃的, 非凡的

2) gospel[5^CspEl]n. 福音, <俗>信仰, 真理

3) harmonica[hB:5mCnikE]n. 口琴, 玻璃或金属片的敲打乐器

4) juxtapose[5dVQkstEpEuz]vt. 并置, 并列

5) homogenize [hE5mCdVEnaiz]vi.均质化，使均匀，使类同

6) Rhapsody[5rApsEdi]n. 狂想曲

7) jukebox[5dVu:kbRks]n. 自动唱片点唱机

8) pitfall[5pitfC:l]n. 缺陷

1 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

2 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

3 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

4 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

5 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

6 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

7 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

8 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

9 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 formats   

n.（出版物的）版式( format的名词复数 )；[电视]电视节目的总安排（或计划）

参考例句：

• They are producing books in all kinds of different formats. 他们出版各种不同开本的书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. 真正的图形用户界面包括表示文字和图形的标准格式。 来自互联网

12 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

14 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

15 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

16 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

17 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

18 quirk   

n.奇事，巧合；古怪的举动

参考例句：

• He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪，把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
• The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。

19 royalty   

n.皇家，皇族

参考例句：

• She claims to be descended from royalty.她声称她是皇室后裔。
• I waited on tables，and even catered to royalty at the Royal Albert Hall.我做过服务生， 甚至在皇家阿伯特大厅侍奉过皇室的人。

20 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。