Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I very much agree with your comments, and I do agree that the time is now and that we need to know what the concerns are.

How so? I mean, why are we separate from Europe or any other nation?

I come from California. We are a big intellectual property State, and I have found over many decades that protecting copyright and patent interests is really important because it encourages the development of the industries that these…

Thus, isn't it misleading to call this a new tax?

The way I would like to proceed, ladies and gentlemen, is to ask each witness to confine your opening statement to 5 minutes.

I am concerned that we are the only nation in the industrialized world that does not provide these performance rights.

The best rate standard for all radio platforms is fair market value, as you proposed, Madam Chairwoman, in the Perform Act.

I believe we will have a bill.

You are saying it is okay for us to take the content. You are saying it is okay for us to play them without recompense to the songwriter.

It would be a shame if our copyright laws encouraged American artists to go overseas to record their works.

Why are we the only industrialized country that does this?

And that is a big deal.

That amounts to millions and millions of dollars every year.

The degree to which you can sit down and solve the problems is very much appreciated.

As opposed to the webcaster?

Okay. Anybody else have a view on that?

Wouldn't this encourage some of them to record in other countries?

This lack of a public performance right for sound recordings is a huge international embarrassment.

Let me call for Solomon here.

We are the only industrialized nation on Earth that does not provide performers with a full performance right.

Judge Chen has been a very fair magistrate judge for 8 years.

I think you are to be complimented on that.

He has made a successful transition from a zealous advocate to a balanced and conscientious adjudicator.

California is currently in the third year of a severe drought. Drought is cyclical in our State.

For the Tule River Tribe, the concerns of the future have become the reality of today.