OVERNIGHT TECH: Chorus sings new tune on songwriter payments

THE LEDE: A bipartisan handful of lawmakers in both chambers brought back legislation on Wednesday aiming to change the way songwriters get paid for their work.

Lawmakers pushing the Songwriter Equity Act say that they were laying down their marker as part of a broader fight over copyright reform that may be looming on Capitol Hill this year. “This is a process-driven scenario and we’re just going to continue in the mix to make sure that when it comes to music licensing, that our views are heard and incorporated into the overall piece of legislation,” said Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), one of the co-authors.

{mosads}Compensation for songwriters whenever a song is bought online or in a CD is set by the federal Copyright Royalty Board and is currently 9.1 cents. Critics say that’s far too low and argue that the market — not the government — ought to be setting the prices for how much songs are worth. The Songwriter Equity Act would have the Copyright Royalty Board set compensation levels equivalent to their fair market value. It would also broaden the scope of evidence that the federal rate court can look at when determining how much to pay songwriters when their songs are performed publicly.

“This is not a process that is against anyone,” Collins said. Rather, lawmakers are “just saying: ‘Let it be fair.'”

The legislation was cheered by groups like ASCAP and BMI, that say it would update the outdated process for setting royalties. The legislation also adheres to a suggestion by the Copyright Office, which generally endorsed the changes in a major report on updating the nation’s copyright laws earlier this year.

It comes amid continuing work on the House Judiciary Committee to review the nation’s copyright laws, though it’s unclear whether or not that process will lead to legislation. The Songwriter Equity Act was previously introduced last year but failed to gain traction.

SENATE WILL TAKE LEAD ON VIDEO REFORM: The Senate is going to move first on plans to overhaul the way people watch TV, according to Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), while his House panel will take the lead on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reauthorization efforts. Both pushes are among the many parts of an ongoing effort to exercise renewed oversight of the FCC and update the nation’s communications laws, but the two chambers will split up the workload in order to maximize lawmakers’ time, Walden said at Wednesday’s American Cable Association summit in Washington.

“We’ve talked back and forth,” Walden said. “I think they’re going to start on the video piece over there in the Senate. We’re going to start in the reauthorization piece and some other things.” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) last year unveiled his “Local Choice” plan to upend the national video market, which could be a preview of the Senate panel’s work this year.

‘INTERNET FIRMS’ TOLD TO PRESERVE DOCUMENTS IN CLINTON PROBE: A House select committee investigating Benghazi is not only subpoenaing the communications of Hillary Clinton and other department staff about the 2012 attack, after reports that the former secretary of State conducted all business through a personal email account connected to a personal server. The Select Committee on Benghazi has also “issued preservation letters to internet firms informing them of their legal obligation to protect all relevant documents.” A committee spokesman said that it was “not releasing firm names at this time.”

CONGRESSIONAL SCIENTISTS CAUCUS?: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who has an undergraduate degree in chemistry, joked about starting a broader scientists caucus now that Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), a former chemical engineer, has joined the Senate. Coons made the remarks Tuesday during a speech urging Congress to pump the brakes on large-scale patent reform — a call supported by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is one of the few other senators with a science or engineering degree.

“There is now in the Senate of the United States a real living breathing chemical engineer in Steve Daines of Montana,” Coons said. “So negotiations have to begin about whether he will join Sen. Heinrich’s engineering caucus or my chemistry caucus. And you know, chemical engineers really, they just want to be their own thing. Somehow, hopefully this will catalyze a broader conversation about an interdisciplinary scientist caucus,” he said.

SENATORS WANT U.S. TO LEAD THE ‘INTERNET OF THINGS’: A group of senators are backing a resolution calling for the United States to develop a national strategy to harness the “Internet of Things,” a phrase used to describe the growing number of devices and appliances that are connected to the Internet. The resolution calls for the country to help speed up development, while also creating best practices with the help of the business community. The proposal also urges the government to use these Internet-connected tools to “improve its efficiency and effectiveness and cut waste, fraud and abuse.” The resolution was sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

FCC’S SOHN DISMISSES RATE REGULATION FEARS: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s aide Gigi Sohn brushed aside concerns about rate regulation under the FCC’s new net neutrality rules. “I don’t mean to say that the concerns aren’t valid, but I do think that there’s a little bit of scare tactic in that,” she said during the American Cable Association summit.

While some have raised fears that a future FCC chairman could reverse course and impose rate regulation, Sohn was unmoved. “I’d love to see the next chairmen get through the Senate and say that they are interested and eager to do rate regulation,” she said. “I don’t think it’s politically feasible, there’s no reason for it and there’s no interest for it. That shouldn’t keep you awake at night.”

COMMERCE STARTS DRONE PRIVACY PROCESS: The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued its formal request for comments as part of the multi-stakeholder model for developing new guidelines for companies using drones. The process — which has been resoundingly criticized by privacy advocates — “aims to address privacy concerns with some potential uses of [unmanned aircraft systems] while ensuring the United States maintains its leadership and promotes innovation in this growing industry,” NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said in a statement. Commenters have 45 days to weigh in.

BILL WOULD REDUCE DATA CENTER ENERGY USE: Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) introduced a bill that would require federal data centers to increase their energy efficiency standards. The Energy Efficiency Government Technology Act was approved overwhelmingly in the last Congress. The lawmakers said the move could save the government millions. They pointed to statistics that found federal data centers made up $600 million in energy costs in 2010.

CEA JOINS PATENT REFORM GROUP: The Consumer Electronics Association is the newest member of United for Patent Reform, a new and growing group pushing to stop patent “trolls.” In its statement, the trade group called on Congress to move forward “expeditiously” with the Innovation Act, a bill that passed through the House during the last Congress but hit a roadblock in the Senate.

PALO ALTO NETWORKS LOBBIES UP: Network security company Palo Alto Networks registered its first lobbyist to focus on cybersecurity and tax issues including information sharing, it said in a new federal disclosure form.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Netflix, which has long been one of the biggest corporate backers of tough Internet regulations, is being accused of having a change of heart.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and 19 other Republicans are backing legislation to block the FCC’s new rules on net neutrality.

There is no need for the FCC to beef up its legal budget to defend against anticipated lawsuits against its net neutrality rules, according to the agency’s managing director, Jon Wilkins.

If the Federal Communications Commission ever again does anything as high profile as its net neutrality rules, its systems might not make it.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) is trying to slow the rush to get a bill through Congress to rein in “patent trolls.”

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