On Tue, 29 Jul 2003, Ian Blenke wrote:
> > What if I tape some FM radio station? What if I get a FM radio card
> > and record to .ogg files? I don't really see why that would
> > be illegal.
>
> Time-shifting radios exist now. For your own listening, this is still
> considered fair use I believe. Again, skipping advertisements is highly
> questionable.
The issue of recording and distributing music from the radio is, I think,
a rather interesting one.
For a long time there's been an established marketing model wherein radio
stations license hit singles from the record companies. The singles
are a "loss leader", as it were -- they're played on the radio in full
knowledge that listeners may dub copies of them and distribute the tapes
to friends, thus spreading "buzz" about that album or artist, and
theoretically increasing sales.
So it seems to me that distributing recorded music from the radio, if
technically illegal, has the implicit approval of the record companies
since many years ago.
Ironically, illegal software distribution was directly responsible for the
success of WordStar oh so many years ago. It became practically an
industry standard, simply because so many people got copies from their
friends and loved it (sometimes enough to buy it).
Just another weird corner case in copyright law I guess.
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