Last week, the new royalty rates for streaming radio stations were announced. A station with 1000 listeners will now have to pay $150,000 a year in royalties. This effectively forces independent webcasters off the air. The worst part: the rates are effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006!
Help get this senseless policy overturned: http://savenetradio.org/
Sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/SIR2007r/petition.html
Read more: http://www.save-internet-radio.com/2007/03/02/save-internet-radio/
That’s.. disgusting.
This move would enforce the dominion of the mega corporation radio stations, and thus would pretty much ensure the death of reliably good music on internet radio in the US. Aren’t these people leeching enough money from the music industry as it is?
To me the truly indecent monster, as you said, is the retroactive pay tidbit – something nobody should get away with – that is effectively making sure people will stay away from their efforts while earning some money on their financial demise. It’s the most amoral way to seize control of the free music people can listen to (it is afterall even harder to start up a regular radio station without massive money support), a listening experience most likely riddled with horrible commercials and an overabundance of mainstream audio feces.
So, I just noticed I don’t have anything insightful to add here. Just another concerned and angry voice for the pile then.
Left by Shade on March 8th, 2007
Thanks for this. That is just brutal. Some of those stations are the last chance for rare and wonderful tunes to get any exposure, leaving us with “mainstream audio feces” floating in a Clear Channel.
Left by DULLSVILLE on March 8th, 2007
You know thats what I think these special interest factions who try to control the media are missing. While its understandable a certain amount of money needs to be made from the hot new mother american marshmallows. Theres also multi media stuff people like to put there own touch to like Dullsville and likewise the internet radio.
Luckily we have the advent of Sattelite radio these days. But I just don’t like the way they totally 180 the concept of these things like Napster and Youtube, which in of itself drew the most attention to pirating. I remember Napster, while I was still buying CD’s, what turned me on about it was finding concert recordings and maybe the occasional Beatles demos which previosly bootleggers had dibs on. Also to discover music from bygone era’s that I may have never considered. Which seems media can deliver the ultimate tribute to the musicians of the past.
Left by meatman on March 8th, 2007
(_(Revised)_)
You know thats what I think these special interest factions who try to control the media are missing. While its understandable a certain amount of money needs to be made from the hot new mother american marshmallows. Theres also multi media stuff people like to put there own touch to like Dullsville and likewise the internet radio.
Luckily we have the advent of Sattelite radio these days. But I just don’t like the way they totally 180 the concept of these things like Napster and Youtube. I remember Napster, while I was still buying CD’s, what turned me on about it was finding concert recordings and maybe the occasional Beatles demos which previosly bootleggers had dibs on. Also to discover music from bygone era’s that I may have never considered. Which seems media can deliver the ultimate tribute to the musicians of the past.
Left by meatman on March 8th, 2007
What are some good internet radio stations? I’d like to find and listen to them before they disappear.
I guess the (over the air) radio corps are concerned about shrinkage.
Left by El Presidente on March 9th, 2007
If you have iTunes installed, there are dozens and dozens preconfigured in the “radio” tab.
Left by Derrick Bostrom on March 9th, 2007
I have been listening to last.fm. I found deviantArt.com by following the radio stations linked to listeners, and following their links. Also, hook-up stumbleupon.com, list music as an interest, and start stumbling.
Left by mother.bored on March 9th, 2007
Pandora.com has links to Savethe stream.org , and that they are probably the number one radio service in terms of scope and ability to survive this. Web2.0 is here, and its embarrassing to see giant corporations straining so hard to sell people what they don’t need and don’t want. The whole premise of open access is that you have the entire world working for free to direct people to sites they are ACTUALLY interested in and therefore likely to make purchases at. A perfect storm is developing in the Web metaverse, and I hope the Meat Puppets go from genre defying masters of the sub-conscience to genre defining masters of the collective conscience. Can they do it without the Bost?
Left by mother.bored on March 13th, 2007
It’s possible. Hopefully, it won’t take them ’til Web 3.0 to do it!
By the way, I’m spewing more hateful anti-corporate spiel this week over at Bostworld:
http://derrickbostrom.com/bostrom/2007/03/13/your-favorite-little-podcast-episode-two/
Left by Derrick Bostrom on March 13th, 2007
I have a radio show called Background Noise on WSUiR, the internet radio station at Wichita State University. Go to http://www.wichita.edu/iradio and check the schedule (all times are Central).
When I first moved to Wichita in 1988, there was awesome student programming on KMUW, the 100,000-watt FM station run by WSU. I first heard the Meat Puppets, in fact, on the show “After Midnight,” which was canceled without warning in 1991…to this date there is no student or other alternative programming in town. Only WSUiR and another internet station exist to provide local programming.
Anyway, if anybody’s interested, check out my show some time.
(By the way, I went to see the Meat Puppets at the long-lost Coyote Club in Wichita in early 1990, based on hearing them on After Midnight. Awesome show.)
Left by Carmody on March 22nd, 2007
Save AbsoluteRadio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Left by Dino on September 12th, 2007
Internet Radios are cool. i listen to them most of the time aside from watching videos on youtube. i am also trying to learn how to put my own personal internet radio.
Left by detoxtechy on October 5th, 2009