The End?

Internet radio as we know it is about to die. A few months ago, the Copyright Royalty Board decided Internet radio broadcasters should pay more money than satellite or broadcast radio (the latter are the guys on your FM/AM dial): per song streamed to a person rather than a percentage of income. And this rate will apply retroactively from Jan 2006!

In all but a few cases this amount of money is more than the income a broadcaster makes from advertising, etc. On July 15th, when SoundExchange (frontman for the RIAA) demands this tribute, most internet radio stations will go bankrupt and die (and those who broadcast simultaneously on the net will decide it's not worth it). (See http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml for more details and some math.)

Why am I upset about this? As a musician, I'm not concerned, since my music doesn't air (though it would have been a possibility if Internet radio stays). I'm upset because only last August (not even a whole year!) did I discover 1.FM (channel X), what is now my favorite radio station. In my area, they systematically removed any good modern rock/alternative stations, so I was ecstatic when I actually heard songs I liked on this station--without as much rap as on the stations near me.

This is simply an act by the RIAA to limit the prevalence of good music heard on radio stations, to prevent new artists from achieving success without the help of a major label, and to maintain their stranglehold (read: monopoly) on the music industry.

Go to http://www.savenetradio.org to try to help preserve our freedom from the RIAA, by calling your senators and representatives and telling them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act (which nullifies the CRB's death sentence and puts internet royalty rates in line with other forms of radio). (H.R. 2060, S. 1353)

---TDM