WDAV

On March 2, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) released a decision that dramatically increases royalty payments owed to rights holders for streaming sound recordings of music over the Internet. The new royalty rates announced by the CRB are retroactive to January 2006, and they are so high that they threaten to shut down many, some fear most, webcasters. They go into effect May 15, 2007. (Update: The CRB has changed the deadline to July 15, 2007.)

The CRB’s decision also eliminates the distinction between noncommercial and commercial media, and it requires complicated record-keeping that places a huge burden on stations, most of whom (including WDAV) do not have the necessary information to keep such records. If allowed to stand, the CRB decision seems certain to drastically curtail the diversity of music programming now found on the Web, and it will have a negative impact on public radio’s ability to bring new and culturally enriching programming to the American public via the Internet. It also sets a chilling precedent for future rights discussions, negotiations and litigation that may undermine non-commercial public service programming.

But the last chapter in this story hasn’t been written, and there is a way you can make a difference.

On April 16, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board rejected all requests by all parties, including NPR’s, to rehear the March 2nd decision. So now, Congress is getting involved.

On April 26, 2007, Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL) introduced the “Internet Radio Equality Act” (H.R. 2060) which nullifies the CRB’s ruling and proposes to replace the onerous new royalty rate structure with a rate of 7.5 percent of stream-based revenue for commercial webcasters. Non-commercial webcasters will pay a rate that is 1.5 times their 2004 rate. Further, the bill seeks to ensure that public broadcasters/webcasters will be treated differently from commercial broadcasters/webcasters in the future by placing public broadcasters/webcasters’ royalty determination within Section 118 of the Copyright Act where other noncommercial royalties such as ASCAP and BMI are covered.

At this point, because WDAV is a relatively small player in the streaming world, we are not facing catastrophic fees. However, we will have to pay more than we did before this new ruling. And should the CRB ruling stand, it is almost certain that WDAV’s ability to continue to grow on the Internet will be seriously thwarted. The “Internet Radio Equality Act” will preserve our ability to reach you via the Internet with the best service possible, and it will ensure fairness for all the stakeholders involved.

You can voice your support for the “Internet Radio Equality Act” by getting in touch with your Congressman and asking him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 2060.

More information is available at SaveNetRadio.org.

Get a copy of the Bill.

Posted by Rachel Stewart at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

by Kim Hodgson, WDAV General Manager

When we lived in Washington, DC, Judy and I attended Luther Place Memorial Church in the heart of downtown. We had a marvelously diverse congregation, from high government officials to some of the homeless women who spent their nights in the church’s shelter.

One of the members of our congregation was a man named Don. He was a large, shaggy man with unkempt hair and a big fuzzy beard. He wore flannel shirts and baggy pants held up with suspenders. He drove a cab for a living.

I didn’t know Don especially well. From outward appearances, one might almost have mistaken him for one of the homeless men who also frequented the neighborhood. But whatever else he may have been, he was a passionate lover of classical music. When the National Symphony Orchestra performed at the Kennedy Center, Don was almost always there with his mother, a little wisp of a lady who was as careful with her appearance as Don was careless with his. Somehow they had obtained season tickets front row center, right behind the podium. It was always a little jarring to see this incongruous pair making their way to their seats.

But not one of the fancy ladies and gentlemen who frequent the Kennedy Center exceeded Don’s passion for the music. Indeed, I doubt that more than a handful came close. Many were there to see and be seen. Don was there to enter another, better, world. And if a performance was good, no one showed appreciation more vociferously.

You might think a conductor of Rostropovich’s stature would ignore such an odd duck sitting behind him. But Slava, as he was known, was well aware of Don’s presence, and evidently appreciated the fervor with which Don embraced the music. Following one evening’s concert (and I regret I can’t tell you what was played), after acknowledging the applause of the audience, Slava stepped down from the podium and motioned to Don. He then leaned over the apron of the stage and gave Don his baton. I like to imagine this scene: for a brief instant, the elegant, sublimely gifted Rostropovich and the scruffy cab driver, each with a hand on one end of the baton, joined in that instant and forever by the passion that they shared.

Posted by Rachel Stewart at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It came as somewhat of a shock to hear of the death of the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

Just a little over a month ago the classical music world honored him on his 80th birthday. On WDAV the observances included a week-long retrospective on Performance Today, heard weeknights at 7.

He had been sick for a while, but unless you were following his life and career closely, you wouldn’t necessarily have known that. And Rostropovich’s persona was always larger than life and seemed invincible.

Rostropovich’s musical significance is indisputable. He’s arguably the greatest cellist of the last 100 years, which effectively means of all time. Even Yo-Yo Ma wouldn’t contest that. And he was almost equally distinguished as a skillful and charismatic conductor.

But with his death, we’ve also lost the last vestige of an era when classical musicians really mattered on the world stage. Like his approximate contemporaries Leonard Bernstein and Isaac Stern, Rostropovich’s influence extended beyond music. He was one of the most prominent dissidents of the Soviet era in Russia, and exhibited extraordinary moral and physical courage by sheltering the blacklisted author Alexander Solszhenitzyn.

Rostropovich’s defection to the west made him an international symbol of the Cold War, but even afterwards, his humanitarian activism marked him as part of a special breed.

We’ll have his recordings to remember his artistry, and there will be other stars as bright in the classical music firmament. But I wonder if we’ll ever see the likes of that kind of extraordinary personality again?

(Find out more about Rostropovich at Performance Today, The New York Times, and YouTube.)

Posted by Frank Dominguez at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For more than 50 years now, rock music in its various forms has held sway as the music of the masses. Not surprisingly, there’s now a generation of classical musicians raised on rock ‘n’ roll who find their classical work influenced by it. Think of violinist Rachel Barton Pine's passion for heavy metal and pianist Christopher O’Riley’s transcriptions of songs by alternative rock band Radiohead. Paavo Järvi, the 42-year-old conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony, grew up playing classical music and rock ‘n’ roll, and now his orchestra is performing a work by Erkki-Sven Tuur, a composer who also has a background in rock. You can read more about how Järvi is creating adventurous programs and embracing new works, even those that reference rock, in WDAV’s Classical News section.

As someone who also grew up on rock ‘n’ roll and who has always been interested in the ways different types of music influence each other, I find Järvi’s approach refreshing and healthy. And it’s not just new music that he champions. He also includes music such as Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 that’s been around for decades but is not often found on concert programs.

Even if Järvi and others like him don’t end up reaching large new audiences with their approach to music-making, at least they’re helping those they do reach explore the riches of quality music (no matter its roots or inspiration) instead of, in Järvi’s words, “[being] a slave to 40 or 50 standard classical pieces.”

Posted by Rachel Stewart at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the most exciting and promising announcements in classical music recently is the appointment of young Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel as the new Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

The excitement is due to the unprecedented international acclaim Dudamel has gotten as a conductor, in spite of being only 26 years old. The promise comes from his inspiring personal story.

Dudamel is not a child of privilege or wealth, but he was fortunate to be raised in a country that has made a dedicated effort to use music, and youth orchestras in particular, to rescue “at risk” youth from lives of poverty, crime and despair. (See Dudamel's biography.) And this is in spite of its status as one of the poorest countries in Latin America.

The significance of having a Hispanic conductor leading the professional orchestra of largely Latino L.A. is hard to overstate. His credentials and ability are impeccable, so there’s no question of this being a callous marketing move or mere pandering by the Philharmonic’s management.

But at a time when orchestras struggle to diversify their audiences, not only in ethnic terms but also by age and economic status, Dudamel can serve as a powerful force to proclaim that classical music is, indeed, for everyone who has the luck to be exposed to it and the willingness to be open to its value.

I wish him and the L. A. Philharmonic all the best.

Posted by Frank Dominguez at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The recent death of a revered North Carolina musical figure reminds us of the significance of teachers in our lives.

Of course, Dr. Lara Hoggard was a multi-faceted choral conductor and arranger who did more than teach. From humble beginnings learning Beethoven's piano Minuet in G by ear, he went on to replace the legendary Robert Shaw as associate conductor of Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, and to serve as music director for an NBC radio program, the Ford Sunday Evening Hour.

But music lovers in the Carolinas remember him best and revere him for his work as a music professor at UNC Chapel Hill, where he arrived in 1967 as the first William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Music. Apart from establishing the renowned Carolina Choir and the countless performances he conducted, the teacher lovingly referred to as "Doc" influenced the lives of countless students and musicians. Among them are J. Don Coleman, the acclaimed founder of the Hickory Choral Society. http://http://www.hickorychoralsociety.com/mainpage.html

I confess to learning about Dr. Hoggard's significance only after his death was brought to my attention. But there are a couple of sites that will tell you more about this remarkable man and musician at the North Carolina Summer Institute for Choral Art http://www.ncsica.com/dr__hoggard.htm and the Music Department at UNC Chapel Hill. http://music.unc.edu/Hoggard%20obit

And as always, you are encouraged to post any thoughts or reminisences you may have about Dr. Hoggard here at WDAV's blog.

Posted by Frank Dominguez at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)