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April 30, 2007
something wicked on the way . . .
During the past few years every member of KIW’s vast worldwide staff has come to rely upon the benefits offered by internet radio.
We can listen to news from The Netherlands, or talk radio from Sydney or New York. . . . or Santa Monica or Johannesburg. Some staffers dig the 24 hour classical music, others groove to the electronica of San Francisco’s Soma.fm, Australia’s Plastic Age Radio, or France's ABF Radio.
This golden age is about the end. Something called the Copyright Royalty Board has decided to follow the proposal of a copyright collection company called Sound Exchange and raise the per-song copyright fee for internet radio.
Instead of the rate charged for the playing of a song (as is the fee for broadcast radio) the fee will be the same as would be charged for downloading a song (as is the fee on iTunes) for each song played by an internet radio station.
This rate hike will kill internet radio. It’s scheduled to take effect on May 15, 2007.
Congress has a bill pending that will correct this. The entire worldwide staff of KIW has voted to ask that you take some action in support of the fledgling oasis of music and thought, that is internet radio.
The Seattle Times Editorial Board sums it up nicely:
"Traditional Radio has become a wasteland for music. The same tired songs that emanate from a consolidated record industry dominate radio from coast to coast. Congress must act on [Congressman Jay] Inslee’s legislation. If not, America’s creative voices will have lost yet another outlet."Seattle Times; 30 April, 2007; page B4; ‘PARADISE TO POVERTY: THE FIGHT FOR I-RADIO’
Help save Net Radio here
Posted by williamfrick at April 30, 2007 10:57 AM