, March 22 -- The legislation now before the senate would remove the ceiling, allowing radio stations and the representatives of musical artists to negotiate freely, with a final decision made by a tribunal in cases where they can't reach an agreement.

It's a bit like the legislation set up to arbitrate disputes between platforms such as Facebook and news organisations about the amount to pay for news.

The parallels tell us an awful lot about where the power lies in disputes between platforms and providers. Here's a hint: it doesn't lie with providers, whether they provide music or news, or, for that matter, fruit to Coles and Woolworths.

Here's what happened with radio.

Legislation dating back to 1968 has given Australian radio stati...