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Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have their campaigns for the White House in full gear. While they typically discuss big-ticket issues, there are several issues at hand that directly affect the music industry, especially in the digital realm.
While not necessarily a digital issue, radio royalties are the main concern on the agenda of the RIAA. They believe the next Congress is when the matter will be settled. While there has been a lot of progress to get performance royalties paid to artists, there is also a strong lobbying presence for broadcasters who do not want to pay the royalty. The Democrats have more openly backed the music industry's side, and any gains they have in the House or Senate would be a help.
Net-neutrality is where the two candidates differ the most. McCain does not believe in regulation of the Internet and bandwith, while Obama strongly supports network neutrality to preserve open competition on the Internet. McCain wants an open market approach, whereas Obama says he will appoint FCC commissioners to reinstate the original net neutrality projections that the FCC eliminated in 2005. The music industry has not taken an official stance on the matter, but many artists (especially indie) have voiced their support for net neutrality. Their concern is that independent artists will suffer from bigger labels and sites getting preferential treatment with higher Internet speeds and bandwith.
Both candidates have pledged to put an end to piracy and protect intellectual property, but neither has given any specifics on how they intend to do so. Although, Obama's VP candidate Joe Biden was the founding chairman of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus.
Internet sales tax is not a main issue for the music industry, but the possibility of such a tax would raise prices for digital downloads and would not help in convincing consumers to pay for music and not steal it. While neither candidate has directly addressed the issue in their campaign, McCain has in the past advocated for a permanent ban on taxing Internet access fees and online commerce.