Internet Music Licensing

FMQB: This week the Senate Judiciary Committee's copyright subcommittee will conduct a hearing on music licensing on the Internet to discuss and possibly map out the terms of a new "blanket license" for the many new forms of music delivery the internet has spawned. Although music publishers have said in the past that they are willing to adopt a single-license format for new music delivery, they haven't really wanted to include online services and have more or less resisted the idea because they felt it undercuts the payments their companies receive... However, with P2P usage continuing to spiral upward, it might not be a bad idea to change their tune now and grab "a little piece of the digital pie" - rather than nothing at all - thanks to the global piracy epidemic...The subcommittee admittedly  has a challenging task in front of them...Paying a mechanical royalty on a download that you legally buy makes sense to me, since it is somewhat analogous to a track on a CD, but how do you price a royalty fee on something that the consumer is only renting (as is the case with subscription services) or just experiencing, as is the case with streaming radio? In any event, I'm glad to see our lawmakers attempting to keep up with the times and I wish them luck on a speedy resolution that will be to everyone's benefit...