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Is community radio at death's door? More than 1000 churches, schools and community organizations nationwide have applied for licenses to operate 10W-100W FM stations. Despite a strong grass-roots movement, and the support of Federal">http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard, the low-power radio (LPFM) movement is about to be buried by the combined weight of the National">http://www.nab.org/">National Association of Broadcasters, National">http://www.npr.org/">National Public Radio, and their many friends in the US Congress.

Attention, high-end audio manufacturers ready to crack the exporting nut: The Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has just released its "General Guide for the Export of Consumer Electronics," providing a step-by-step process which the CEA says manufacturers can use to navigate the often uncharted and challenging regulatory waters of the export market. According to the CEA, the guide focuses on assisting manufacturers in exporting their products to the South American and Pacific Rim countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The organization reports that, in a survey of its membership, these countries were identified as primary growth markets of interest.

According to the latest figures from the Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the month of August showed positive gains in the overall factory sales of audio products to dealers. The CEA reports that sales for the month rose six percent compared to the same period last year, resulting in year-to-date sales of $5.3 billion, an 11.2% rise over last year.

Five years after opening a research office in Moscow, BMG">http://www.bmg.de/">BMG Entertainment has launched an affiliate called BMG Russia OOO, which will work from the capital. The intent is to develop the Russian market for BMG products, discover and sign new musical talent—and combat piracy.

A group of researchers has claimed success at cracking four digital audio watermarking technologies presented in a challenge by the Secure">http://www.sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative in September. The claim has been denied by David Leibowitz, chairman of Verance">http://www.verance.com/">Verance Corporation, creator of one of the challenged watermarks. SDMI has made no public statement on the claim, and has resolved to remain silent until all 447 submitted hacks are evaluated.

Artists' groups are celebrating what they hope will be more than a symbolic victory over the recording industry in the wake of legislation signed by President Clinton the last week of October. Known as "The Works Made for Hire and Copyright Corrections Act," the repeal negates a provision that was inserted into last year's "Satellite Home Viewer Act" at the insistence of the Recording">http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America, designating musical recordings as "works for hire." Such a designation catergorizes a musical recording as a commodity that can be purchased at a fixed price, such as a table built by a furniture craftsman, rather than as a performance subject to syndication and royalty fees.

The Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America has recently been getting press ink by the bucketful for its defense of the music business against the perils of the Internet. But the Future">http://www.futureofmusic.org">Future of Music Coalition is urging the US Copyright Office to be wary of efforts by the RIAA to establish itself as the sole and exclusive collection agent for digital performance royalties for sound recordings. Instead, the Coalition has proposed that an independent body would be a more appropriate vehicle to collect and distribute these and other monies, including Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 royalties.