RTP-area local music and culture

[alex verhoeven <alex AT webslingerZ.com>]

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story?id=6066617&pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1&rnd=1085518316199&has-player=true

In the past few years, fans leaving some concerts have discovered a souvenir
far better than a T-shirt: a live recording of the show they just attended.
Bands including the Allman Brothers, moe. and Billy Idol have sold instant
concert discs, and the Pixies and the Doors plan to launch similar programs
this summer. The recording-and-burning company DiscLive estimated on April
12th that it would gross $500,000 selling live discs this spring alone.

But in a move expected to severely limit the industry, Clear Channel
Entertainment has bought the patent from the technology's inventors and now
claims to own the exclusive right to sell concert CDs after shows. The
company, which is the biggest concert promoter in the world, says the patent
covers its 130 venues along with every other venue in the country.

"We want to be artist-friendly," says Steve Simon, a Clear Channel executive
vice president and the director of Instant Live. "But it is a business, and
it's not going to be 'we have the patent, now everybody can use it for
free.'"

Artists net about ten dollars for every twenty- to twenty-five-dollar
concert CD that's sold, no matter which company they use. But with Clear
Channel pushing to eliminate competition, many fear there will be less money
and fewer opportunities to sell live discs. "It's one more step toward
massive control and consolidation of Clear Channel's corporate agenda," says
String Cheese Incident manager Mike Luba, who feuded with Clear Channel last
year after promoters blocked the band from using CD-burning equipment.

The Pixies, who are booking a fall reunion tour with several probable Clear
Channel venues, say Clear Channel has already told them DiscLive can't burn
and sell CDs on-site. "Presuming Clear Channel's service and product are of
equal quality, it may be best to feed the dragon rather than draw swords,"
says Pixies manager Ken Goes. "Still, I'm not fond of doing business with my
arm twisted behind my back."

Clear Channel doesn't plan to stop Phish, Pearl Jam, the Who or other bands
that make live recordings available days after the show. It has also granted
one-dollar licenses to a few up-and-coming bands to record and sell instant
CDs of their own shows. But Clear Channel executives maintain that they have
the right to stop anyone who tries to infringe on the patent. Many say this
strategy prevents inventors from jumping into a marketplace and creating
further innovation. "We'd like to see this industry opened up to everybody,"
says Erik Stubblebine, founder and vice president of Hyburn, a Phoenix
company that has sold instant CDs for dozens of concerts in the past three
years. "They're trying to squeeze us."

the patent in question:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=6,614,729,&OS=6,614,729,&RS=6,614,729,