From this morning’s TRI Newsletter: The NAB summoned the members of the Radio Board to a hastily-called in-person meeting on Friday morning, in Washington, D.C. Last Friday it convened a super-secret conference call of the 50 state association executives. Nobody’s talking, but it’s reasonable to assume that this is all about the performance royalty – specifically, the predicament that former NAB Radio Board Chair Bruce Reese talked about at last month’s Conclave session. Reese said radio is being squeezed by Congress to produce a compromise. The fear is that if it doesn’t, the MusicFirst faction will persuade a legislator to tack on a bill giving the Copyright Royalty Board the right to set the rate for a new performance royalty. As one observer says, “the music industry is desperate, because they know this is their best shot, since control of Congress may shift after the November elections. They’re throwing everything at this now.”