internet radio and RIAA

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[jimtzu]

RIAA kills US-based Internet radio

By marx in MLP
Fri Jun 21, 2002 at 11:27:11 AM EST
Tags: Internet (all tags)   
 The statutory license for digital audio broadcasting (which includes Internet radio stations) proposed by the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) has now gone through the Librarian of Congress, and is thus final.

For a small radio station (such as SomaFM), with around 2000 concurrent listeners per day, the licensing fee is about $500 per day. Advertising revenue based on current rates and the same number of listeners would also be about $500 per day. Thus this means the death of Internet radio stations.

 

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The license requires stations to pay 0.07? per performance (song) to the copyright holder (the RIAA). This works out to about 1? per listener hour.
Traditional AM/FM radio stations don't have to pay such a fee. They only have to pay about 3% of their revenues, and this does not go to the copyright holder, but to the composers.

Again we see a decision with wildly diverging principles for analog and digital technology. Since analog technology is being replaced with digital technology, we will be stuck with the legislation for digital technology. Since this legislation is much more restrictive, we will be end up with a much more restrictive world.
 

and more at:
http://www.freepress.net/news/21481

[Daniel]

This is more totalitarian effort to control democracy, to control you and me. Part of the reason for policing the airwaves in the past is the limited wavelength available to everyone and thus pirate stations being a problem. So how does that apply to the internet? It doesn't...this is plan and simple political horseshit to control freespeech.

Dan

[jimtzu]

 
Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm writing today to ask for your help.  The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora.  The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all.  Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters.  I hope that you will consider joining us. 

Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541 

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.   

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception.  As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians.  The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential. 

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.

 
-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541
 
 

[henry]

good interview sioux of jeff kripal at kqed forum. another alternative source of information is wbai and its pacifica affiliates. not recommending,but reporting...henry

[Michael]

I just tried to tune into Pandora, and found an unhappy message awaiting me.  They can't broadcast to Canada anymore it seems.

DAMN!  That was by far my favorite radio station.

  >     

[jimtzu]

so far Pandora still works here, but it's only a matter of time before they and the others are run out of business.  and now they're going after the used cd/media outlets....

Second-hand CD ban
Yup. It had to happen: selling of used CD's is getting slowly banned. Why, you may ask? Perhaps because the music industry does not get a cut in these sales, so they consider it a theft pretty much like downloading music off the internet. Ars Technica reports:

On Florida, Utah, and soon in Rhode Island and Wisconsin, selling your used CDs to the local record joint will be more scrutinized than then getting a driver's license in those states. For retailers in Florida, for instance, there's a "waiting period" statue that prohibits them from selling used CDs that they've acquired until 30 days have passed. Furthermore, the Florida law disallows stores from providing anything but store credit for used CDs.
Why this trend, and why now? It's difficult to say, but to be sure, there is no love lost between retailers who sell used CDs and the music industry. The Federal Trade Commission has scrutinized the music industry for putting unfair pressures on retailers who sell used CDs, following a long battle between the music industry and retailers in the mid 90s. The music industry dislikes used CD sales because they don't get a cut of subsequent sales after the first. Now, via the specter of piracy, new legislation is cropping up that will make it even less desirable to sell second-hand goods. Can laws targeting used DVDs be far behind?

I was under the impression that most musicians love music, and they have extensive collections of new and old stuff. I was also under the impression that they were pretty poor, and therefore like to buy used CDs. And, I have also been told that there are companies which specialize in second-hand music, and that they are the favourite spots for many a beginning artist.

But of course, to protect the profits, er, musicians, these evil shops must die.

Consider this: when music becomes all digital, and if DRM becomes prevalent, there will be no such thing as "used" music anymore. You have to always buy from the source - at the price set by the source. No more CD swaps, no more 2nd hand stores, no more rummaging through super-sale boxes filled with dusty vintage music. Maybe not today, and maybe not in twenty years, but eventually there will be a large amount of music only available as digital bits without any physical manifestation which you could trade. And if this trend continues, this may become sooner than expected.

(Via pretty much