UPDATE: The appointment is now official. Reaction to the appointment from the indie label community via A2IM President Rich Bengloff after the jump below/
Julius Genachowski has been named the new Chairman of The Federal Communications Commission. As with most things Obama, this is not you're father's FCC chair. From his bio:
- Cofounder and managing director of venture capital firm Rock Creek.
- Founding partner of LaunchBox Digital
- Chairman and cofounder of Thummit
- From 1997-2005, senior exec for 8 years at Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp/
- He has served on the Boards of Directors or Advisors of several companies, including Web.com, Ticketmaster, The Motley Fool, Beliefnet (sold to NewsCorp), Truveo (sold to AOL), and Rapt (sold to Microsoft).
An Obama/Genachowski administration can be expected to more aggressively license and promote wireless internet and other technologies that will enable the next generation of information and entertainment delivery.
Statement from A2IM President Rich Bengloff on the appointment of Julius Genachowski as FCC Chairman:
“We are encouraged by the appointment of a supporter of net neutrality as FCC Chairman. Net neutrality is very important issue to the independent label community, as it assures equal access for players of all sizes to the technologies through which independent artists and labels promote and distribute their work. We hope this appointee will also respect Intellectual Property and the need for artists and labels to be fairly compensated for the works they create."
