And just when I got my Airport Express working flawlessly with my home stereo.

Neil Anderson

http://www.cyclelogicpress.com

Apparently the music industry wants to shut down Internet radio - and thus shut down the only viable outlet for showcasing new music tracks, other than iTunes.

The result of this astronomical royalty increase will be (1) irreparable harm to Internet radio broadcasters, and (2) the end of legitimate Internet music radio.

What will take the place of legitimate Internet radio? Well, let's see... Does anyone remember ever hearing about a thing called "P2P music file sharing?" It's already gone "underground" where the RIAA can't even see it. Want to bet traffic increases by, oh, say, 1200% or more?

Does this affect only American Internet radio stations? Aren't they mostly rubbish?

"Does this affect only American Internet radio stations? Aren't they mostly rubbish?"

No.

but thats like saying the channels you get through cable/sattelite is mostly rubbish.

there are some jems.

This stupid royalty schedule forces the issue, which is that the music industry has managed to convince generations of artists to sign away the right to do what they want with their work.

Artists who want to be webcasted will now have a new incentive to ditch record companies and deal directly with webcasters and other internet distributors. After all, it's their work and they don't have to sign any contract they don't want to.

I volunteer at a local low-power FM station. Regardless of these new fees, we can webcast our own original programming without paying royalties because it's our work and we own it, and we can webcast unsigned local musicians with their permission--which they're very happy to give us.

Pandora http://www.pandora.com/ is a brilliant, innovative service that lets you define what ISN'T rubbish and hear just that, while continually introducing you to new music you like.

And by the way, it's American. And in a lovely gesture to us non-Americans, Pandora has neglected to include IP filtering to prevent non-Americans from using this excellent service.

But there's no way Pandora can pay the increased royalties either. So there goes innovation and individualized, non-rubbish radio. Not just this one experiment, but future ones that might be even better are about to be aborted.

I think it's about a lot more than one country.

after all, shouldnt people pay to listen to music at every opportunity ? So what if a load of small stations that broadcast an eclectic mix of rarely heard artists will be forced off air.Its not like they play the kind of stuff that Pepsi/MacD/Coke etc. would like you to listen to so its obviously not viable.

totally new place .. all contracts ended by the bands and all going to

a system i dreamed of in the late 90's ..

it's based on the fact that bands get at most a dollar out of a record

sold via the companies. Imagine if instead of selling through the

std channels we simply bought direct from the artist's web site for

lest say 2 bucks for the cd content ? We simply swipe our cc in a

reader built into the keyboard, punch in our nip , sale gets authorised

and we download the cd content right to our computer where we are

free to burn our cd's .

At a reasonable rate like this .. the artist rakes in the dough

we get fair value for the money , get rid of record companies

and of all their < censored speech and comments here > tricks

and lawsuits and general problems and headaches they are the

main cause of. Not to mention make piracy rather pointless..

We got the technology .. why not put it to good use ?

I'm going to cry now.

Two MAJOR problems with this new fee:

1) Why are webcasters paying a different fee than aircasters?

2) I thought "retroactive fees" were awarded by courts as punitive damages?

People don't have to pay to listen to music because the advertisers pay the station to play the music. Net radio currently pays to play the songs but the music industry wants more money. And when the net radio stations get shut down they won't get any money at all.

Being a writer, composer and performer for more than 50 years, there is an obvious large part of me that believes that the artist should be fairly compensated for his or her art. Generally, the public has always been more than considerate in compensating the artist. This is not about the public paying for the music, it’s is all about ASCAP and BMI and other organizations out there collecting royalties for the record companies that have successfully ripped off nearly every popular recording artist and composer since the 1930’s. I would be totally supporting any effort that would benefit the composers and performers, but this beef is all about the greedy record companies. And before some of you militant members of ASCAP or BMI start screaming about the plight of the helpless composers and performers, just be honest with yourselves for a moment and think of the answer to this question; who gets 80% or more of the profits from all record sales, live concerts, and related commercial marketing of products representing the artist? That’s right, the same bunch pushing to squeeze the life out of internet radio, which has been the only avenue for most performers trying to get air time for their work.

This was their second chance and they pissed it all away, didn't they?

You guys know what I'm talking about - there we all were, logged into Napster and there was nothing else, and they forcibly dispersed us into dozens of little genre- and etiquette-based fragments. And here so many of us were once again, after buying the RAID drives and writing the backup scripts and downloading obsessively and banning people and whatnot, checking out Pandora and the like, either in order to toss the IT hassle of being a serious music fan these days, toss the snotty p2p community that we're a part of, or (hint) looking for more stuff to download.

Wait for it.

That makes two times now that these morons have had the collective us in their headlights without trying to really make a sales pitch. Ass Steve Jobs has spent a great deal of time and effort trying to teach the record industry how to wipe and flush.

...and here they are smearing their worst on the wall.

..when I wrote that the music industry needed the P2P enema it was getting - I'd have never believed these guys were such pain fetishists that they'd be giving themselves high colonics with firehoses!

Bwahahahaha!

Oh, my Goodness! Shut down the ONE bright spot for showcasing what good talent they DO actually manage to sign, and they're so whorishly dedicated to Mammon that they'd sacrifice it for the bottom line concerns of their major shareholders.

I hope EVERY webcaster goes off the air on Sunday - just throw the switches off and go to the beach.. or mountains.. and watch the labels 20% decrease in sales this year nosedive even faster!

I for one am not going to be buying new CDs from any band signed to a label that's RIAA affiliated. Gonna go yard sailing and hit the flea-markets.. Hey, I picked up three LP's today. Cost me all of a buck and a half. How much do you reckon the RIAA coffers grew from that purchase? About the right amount, I'd say.

Let web-radio go folks, and watch the music industry mutilate itself right into handicapped status.

It's gonna be the best show you've ever seen in your life. :-D

Hugs an' Kisses!

Deborah Terreson

Is it legal to charge have a retroactive royalty increase? It'd be like my internet provider going: "New policy, we're charging you an extra $15, plus, we're making that charge valid as of last year. Have fun!" Except if they are the only ISP around.

It's an American law and therefore inapplicable anywhere else in the world. Sometimes America forgets this.

Just move your "broadcast" system overseas and watch the bribes go into congress to try to flatten overseas "competition" in a similar way to Internet gambling.

This must surely be the exception that proves the rule that all publicity is good publicity.

A real triumph for stupidity.

As a regular UK listener to 'live365' internet radio, ( tuned in almost all day) I must owe a fortune in past fees. Where else can I listen to dedicated country, gospel, jazz, etc broadcasts when ever I like. Most BBC local broadcasting is inane rubbish and as for TV, we don't have one and have never missed it. I fully expect that of there is the demise of US internet radio, something similar will appear. I am also confident that Register will tell me about it.

What hurts is the smaller bands that will lose their means of general exposure, bands that never asked for big royalties, but were happy to get air-time.

BIA

Apart from the fact that Radio Paradise - which is the only internet radio I listen (and contribute to regularly) would have to change it's name, is there any reason for 'upping sticks and moving' elsewhere?

How does this affect artists outside the US?

I'm very dischuffed about having to give up my favourite station. My CD/paid for downloaded collection would be 50% smaller if I didn't listen to RP.

These greedy f$$$$$s just don't get it do they?

Ian

I can honestly say that listening to Radio Paradise has caused me to buy more CDs (or iTunes downloads) by artists I wouldn't have otherwise heard than any other source. Killing the goose means there will be no golden eggs from this music listener in future.

There is no alternative to some of the excellent internet radio stations out there like Radio Paradise and KCRW - all over-the-air stations waste most of their broadcast time with DJs spouting off on their own ego trips and playing music from a playlist, which means that you don't get anything like the variety you get from internet radio that unveils the good new stuff.

To all of you who are wondering -as I did- how this hike can be retroactive:

I read, on elReg btw, that the webcasters' "contracts" or whatever agreement they signed, let room for a royalty increase that would indeed be retroactive :/

Sanity prevails?

http://blog.wired.com/music/save_net_radio/index.html

So far, so good

--

Yes, you could move your broadcast setup overseas. But you'd better move yourself overseas and block all US systems from accessing them (in as much as that's possible) too... remember what happened to all those online gambling company executives who visited the states?

I can't believe what I'm reading here, this is a bloody international disgrace!!

I'm always having my leg pulled because I only seem to like 'old' music. I used to be really into music and prolific CD purchaser in my yoof, but I haven't bought more than two or three CDs a year for as long as can remember. Why not I hear you ask? I like what I like and I don't really rate anything I've heard on normal "lets all sound the same" radio since I was in short trousers!

That said, I discovered Pandora radio a couple of weeks ago, put in a couple of bands I love and hey presto I've got a list of 10 bands I've never (or faintly!) heard of before and guess what RIAA, I'm gonna buy their CDs generating money for them and you. Close this avenue and the money will stop, it really is that easy!

In a world of supposed vast choice and technological advance the dinosaurs shit their pants when anything they don't understand comes along, and we all know what happened to them!

God dammit, I'll be upset all weekend now!!

These music industry debates are always one-sided. No-one considers the value the labels and majors bring - without their marketing and artist development skills we wouldn't have any of the big megastar acts that drive so many CD sales today. It would a lot less profitable for the big acts to make CDs and we could be left with just loads of smaller indie style bands making their kind of music without any attention to what the mass-market consumer wants. The record companies invest heavily in new bands and not all of them will make it, there is a risk for them in this that has to be taken into account. Record industry workers and executives work hard and have built careers. Many have big mortgages and school fees, etc to cover - it must be hard for them to deal with the changes affecting their industry today and we should all be prepared to do something to help out - finding new ways to collect reasonable royalties on rogue web-based radio stations is one fair course of action. TV Reality Shows now help bring excellent new artists to public attention but you need the record companies to develop a sustainable career and revenue stream for these new talents otherwise the public may never get to hear them.

Curious... I am always interested in people like the RIAA, MPAA, CRB who's members are willing to sign their own death warrants.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or are really that deluded. Big megastar acts?? like what, justin timeberlake and the pussycat dolls? A bunch of talentless pretty faces that the labels take and turn into a gimmick that mainstream music listeners buy (literally and figuratively) into. Record industry execs take something that isnt theirs and sell it, keeping the profits and giving the artist pennies on the dollar. TV reality shows are a big part of what is wrong with American society, teaches a false percerption of reality, and is mind-numbingly boring to boot. But you go ahead and keep telling yourself the record industry is looking out for the artist and they will keep feeding you meaningless garbage. With the death of internet radio comes the death of my moral view of obtaining music legally.

"No-one considers the value the labels and majors bring - without their marketing and artist development skills we wouldn't have any of the big megastar acts that drive so many CD sales today"

Does the expression "Bullshit!" mean anything to you, buddy?

The labels and the majors bring one thing and one thing only - entry into Wal-Mart's bargain bins.

Artists can get their music showcased on Internet radio for free, and they don't have to pay the labels for "studio time" that way. Look up "Jonathan Coulton" for a little-known artist who's making his way without the "help" (aka "extortion and smothering") of a major label nor the RIAA.

Or, if they have no talent whatsoever, they can sign with a major, record a CD that sounds exactly the same as all the other talentless shites out there, and disappear from the music scene in a few weeks when the label replaces them with yet another clone of their band.

Funny: The RIAA tried raising prices, and that didn't increase CD sales. So they tried suing their customers, and that didn't increase CD sales. Now they're trying to shut down Internet radio, thus ensuring there won't be anyone listening to music without buying a pig in a poke. Want to bet that doesn't increase CD sales, either?

"Many have big mortgages and school fees, etc to cover - it must be hard for them to deal with the changes affecting their industry today and we should all be prepared to do something to help out"

I'm prepared to help them find a job hauling garbage - the guys I have talked to say the pay is great, but there's high turnover. Record company execs should be very familiar with this work already, if what's on the current crop of CDs means anything.