The Justice

Media Credit: photo courtesy of Seth Kroll LEGAL JUNCTION: Family Junction members (right) look on as Rep. Don Manzullo of Illinois speaks about Internet radio in Washington, D.C., last June.

It's clear that the Recording Industry Association of America is playing catch-up in the digital age. By picking on college students who download and share music online-around 15 Brandeis undergraduates were forced to pay $3,000 each to the RIAA last semester-the music industry is revealing the weaknesses in its outdated business strategy for promoting artists.

Independent bands such as Family Junction are taking a stand against the RIAA through the Digital Freedom Campaign, an organization that promotes the rights of artists and fans to utilize digital technology without unreasonable government restriction or fear of RIAA lawsuits.

Family Junction, an eclectic funk/jazz/rock/hip-hop band performing at Cholmondeley's Thursday at 9 p.m., includes Ryan Pressman '06, a post-bac in studio art (guitar/bass/drums), Brandeis Hillel staffer Dan Levine (guitar/vocals), Matt Ross (guitar/bass/drums) and Alan Cohen (guitar/bass/vocals). The Family got involved in the campaign for digital rights after signing on to the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group of artists and Internet radio providers such as www.pandora.com, currently lobbying hard against a federal bill proposing massive hikes in royalty rates at the expense of Internet radio stations.

"We don't want the rates to be so high that Internet radio stations are put out of business that play our music," said 24-year-old Seth Kroll, the band's manager and co-lyricist.

The Copyright Royalty Board's proposal last March sought to increase royalty rates by between 300 and 1,200 percent, but Kroll said the bill is still in limbo.

Family Junction and other bands that get airtime primarily through college and Internet radio stations rely on the freedom and accessibility of the Internet to get their music heard around the world. Kroll said around 40 percent of music played on the Internet is from independent artists, as opposed to terrestrial radio, which Kroll said plays about 10 percent independent music. By aiming to put these stations out of business, the RIAA shows its panic over challenges being made to its monopoly on conventional music promotion.

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