Big Doin's in Copyright Law!

In what many would consider a long-awaited moved, the Judiciary Committee is finally holding a hearing on the Performance Right Act, which would amend the Copyright Act and mandate that royalties be paid to the owners of sound recordings when they're played on "terrestrial" radio. Currently, owners of sound recordings (i.e. the record companies) only get paid on "digital audio transmissions"; translation = online radio. However, owners of underlying copyrights of songs (i.e. publishers and songwriters) get paid for digital AND terrestrial transmissions.

The reason for this is purely political; the regular broadcast industry has very strong political ties and have, time and time again, lobbied hardcore against having to pay for the use of sound recordings. However, webcasters tried to prevent having to pay for digital transmissions and failed miserably, and may claim they are facing bankruptcy because of it. Will the same fate await regular radio if this Act passes? Should owners of sound recordings be afforded the same rights as songerwriters? Some say no, given that nearly all sound recordings are owned by the big bad record companies, which already make a killing on record sales (though down, each physical CD sale nets about $7 to the record company). However, I would argue this isn't about morality and how "deserves" to get paid; it's about equality. This has been a glaring loophole in the Copyright Act for a long time and one, I think, that was never intended, as The United States is one of the only countries in the entire modern world that doesn't pay owners of sound recordings on radio. It will be very interesting to see how this pans out, and whether or not the braodcast industry will be able to win where webcasters have lost.