Recording Industry Wants FM Radio in Cell Phones MANDATORY

The RIAA will look to introduce a provision into Congress's pending legislation, the Performance Rights Act, which would mandate that all cell phones be built with FM radio receivers.

The seemingly bizarre mandate is the keystone of an elaborate game of financial chess between radio broadcasters and the RIAA, with the implied assumption being that Congress will do whatever the pair say.

The RIAA wants to cut the longstanding copyright exemption that allows radio stations to pay less than full performance fees to labels and artists (satellite radio and webcasters, by contrast, pay the full fee). The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) opposes this measure, but is reportedly near a deal with RIAA-led alliance musicFIRST.

Under the deal radio stations would agree to pay $100M USD more to labels and artists, but in exchange the RIAA would back the broadcasters plan to force all cell phones or other mobile devices in the U.S. to feature FM tuners. Speaking with ArsTechnica, musicFIRST commented, "As regards the chip, this is a key issue for the radio industry. musicFIRST, too, likes FM chips in cell phones, PDAs, etc. It gives consumers access to more music choices."

The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents the key players of the electronics industry, is ardently opposed to the plan which it says seeks to impose damaging restrictions on the free market. CEA president Gary Shapiro, "The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity [and is] not in our national interest."