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Fight for Web radio – or lose it

Webradio

Tim Westergren of Pandora has been blogging about the absolutely ridiculous ruling by the US Copyright Royalty Board which will effectively kill off Internet radio if left unchanged. Man, where do they find the stupid muppets who make these idiot decisions? Do I feel strongly about this? You bet. And so should everyone who cherishes the Internet. Do not sit still – please complain, petition and fight to get this ruling overturned.

 The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has recently released a revised fee schedule for internet radio. Left unchanged, these rates will end internet radio, period. The RIAA has effectively convinced this federal committee to establish rates that make online radio a non-viable business. It’s an utterly ridiculous ruling that renders any form of internet radio non-economic. We are continuing in the belief that sanity will return as everyone involved, including the 50 million avid online radio listeners, realize just how outrageous this is.

1 Comment

  • This latest news is bad news of course, for everyone. I recently read that MTV doesn’t even pay royalties on the videos they play. If the royalty rates were reasonable that would be one thing…if they can find a formula that doesn’t overwhelm webcasters that’s fine, but the royalties they want are extreme, unfair, and help destroy what’s left of the music “business”. One guy recently posted on Digg that he worked at a terrestrial radio station that had to pay $400/song played, simply outrageous! No wonder there’s so damn many commercials…and no wonder I no longer listen to radio anymore!!! Anyways, the RIAA should focus on eliminating middlemen and lowering CD prices…and they better enjoy their lawsuits while they can, because lots of file-sharers are making the switch to encrypted file-sharing solutions like GigaTribe, which keep people out of the radar ( http://www.gigatribe.com ).

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