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Domain: saveourinternetradio.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to saveourinternetradio.com.
Comments · 11
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Re:Why should I lobby in favor of the RIAA's clien
Yikes. Okay, a bit of history. In 1995, the United States (Congress? Help me out, neighbors) passed the "Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act" which basically said Internet radio stations had to pay a royalty to the owner of the copyright for the actual performance of a song, in addition to the royalties they pay to the composer.
Organizations like BMI/ASCAP (which I believe are non-profit organizations) collect royalties on behalf of composers from terrestrial and Internet stations alike. SoundExchange (a for-profit business, I believe) was appointed buy the "government" to collect the performance royalties on behalf of copyright holders. These are collected from Internet stations only.
The rates are set by the Copyright Royalty Board, who recently announced rates would be collected on a number of songs played times the number of listeners basis, at a rate per "performance" that would drive most independant, non-corporate (for lack of a better label at this late hour) Internet stations out of business.
Here's a link that explains it a lot better than I have done.
You are correct, another company could offer to collect fees on behalf of copyright holders but keep in mind, that would have to be negotiated with all copyright holders whose songs you played. If only some of the music you played was covered by these agreements, you would still have to negotiate with all of the other record companies whose music you played.
It's a lot of work for someone who just wants to spin discs and make a modest living. -
Re:Canada? Why not anywhere else in the world?
Getting a minimum 128K uplink with QOS across the pond for signal relay is not for the faint of heart, or the non-commercial of budget. This is why Canada is a much preferrable option for many US-based webcasters.
At the risk of repeating what may have been said already:
http://www.saveourinternetradio.com/ - Bless you, Radio Paradise for leading the charge!
I'd bless NPR for fighting this as well, but the fact is that NPR's opposition to third-channel adjacency rules in the Low-Power FM legal tussles of 1998-2000 helped prevent the FCC from granting 90% of the possible LPFM frequencies across the US, and therefore they have forced many (including my own) non-commercial and community radio stations onto the internet. -
Re:The power of publicity.As nasty as the RIAA is, they don't hold a candle to the tobacco companies: the only industry whose product, used as recommended, causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. That's not even close to an accurate comparison.
All the tobacco companies do is sell a product that people still want to buy even though it kills them. Their lobbying efforts are mainly to stem the tide of governmental oversight and restrictions on the sale and advertisement of their product. Imagine if the government passed a law saying it was illegal for McDonalds to advertise the Big Mac on television or radio because it contained trans fats. Do you think McDonalds would not immediately start lobbying heavily to get this restriction removed? The tobacco lobby is simply trying to protect their revenue stream, and stop the government from legislating them out of business.
On the other hand, the RIAA is actively changing laws to create new revenue streams, because it's not the government that's putting them out of business, it's the market. No one wants to buy their product because it sucks. The record companies see that their old way of doing things doesn't work anymore, so instead of adapting and changing like normal businesses should, they buy ridiculous laws that force people to buy their product even when they're *not* buying their product; they force blank media levies and tie up tax-supported courts with their lawsuit extortion schemes designed only to squeeze money out of the little guy and strike fear into the hearts of their market segments. They push for higher royalty payments based on a difference without distinction (analog vs. digital), all in the name of protecting their status as media gatekeepers so they can continue to sell us a product we don't want.
Tobacco companies do none of these things. They do not force people to smoke, nor do they try to illicit money from tangential sources to support a dying business model. The tobacco business model (selling a product people want to buy) works-- they are simply fighting government oversight.*
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* Before you start flaming about addictiveness of the product: smoking is a choice. I choose not to smoke. I do not presume the right to make that choice for others.
Now flame away. -
Re:The power of publicity.As nasty as the RIAA is, they don't hold a candle to the tobacco companies: the only industry whose product, used as recommended, causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. That's not even close to an accurate comparison.
All the tobacco companies do is sell a product that people still want to buy even though it kills them. Their lobbying efforts are mainly to stem the tide of governmental oversight and restrictions on the sale and advertisement of their product. Imagine if the government passed a law saying it was illegal for McDonalds to advertise the Big Mac on television or radio because it contained trans fats. Do you think McDonalds would not immediately start lobbying heavily to get this restriction removed? The tobacco lobby is simply trying to protect their revenue stream, and stop the government from legislating them out of business.
On the other hand, the RIAA is actively changing laws to create new revenue streams, because it's not the government that's putting them out of business, it's the market. No one wants to buy their product because it sucks. The record companies see that their old way of doing things doesn't work anymore, so instead of adapting and changing like normal businesses should, they buy ridiculous laws that force people to buy their product even when they're *not* buying their product; they force blank media levies and tie up tax-supported courts with their lawsuit extortion schemes designed only to squeeze money out of the little guy and strike fear into the hearts of their market segments. They push for higher royalty payments based on a difference without distinction (analog vs. digital), all in the name of protecting their status as media gatekeepers so they can continue to sell us a product we don't want.
Tobacco companies do none of these things. They do not force people to smoke, nor do they try to illicit money from tangential sources to support a dying business model. The tobacco business model (selling a product people want to buy) works-- they are simply fighting government oversight.*
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* Before you start flaming about addictiveness of the product: smoking is a choice. I choose not to smoke. I do not presume the right to make that choice for others.
Now flame away. -
Some useful links...
The DJ of my favorite internet radio stations, Radio Paradise, has a very informative blog concerning this issue.
Also, if you're interested in taking action, check out Save Net Radio.
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Re:Petition site
They might have meant http://www.saveourinternetradio.com/ and http://capwiz.com/congressorg/sbx/f/?aid=9461656&
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Re:I for one am glad
Why can't they be paid the same way they are paid on broadcast radio. Right now (even before this royalty increase), internet radio pays more money to the labels than the broadcast stations. All they are asking for is no more increases.
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Save Our Internet Radio!!!
this law doesn't just affect over the air radio stations, but all streaming web casts. this is a bad deal, and it is supposed to be applied retro actively to 2006 (which will basically put all streaming radio stations out of business).
you can write your congressman or representative here.
for more info on how this will affect streaming radio, check out www.SaveOurInternetRadio.com. i found out about this through soma fm's news section (soma fm is an internet radio station i listen to, i am not affiliated with them)
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Article seems confused about facts
A recent article from BetaNews has analyed facts and figures on royalties currently paid by terrestrial radio stations to the three major performance royalty organizations (PROs) -- ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC -- and has determined that, under the new rates proposed last week by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), Internet radio stations operating in the U.S. would have to pay $2.3 billion in performance royalties annually, compared to $550 million for the more than 14,000 terrestrial radio stations combined.
I couldn't get to that article at BetaNews, and I'm not dusputing their contention that Internet radio is facing a huge bill from owners of the rights to sound recordings, but they have left out a few crucial elements in their description of what is occurring.
The fees payed to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC go to the composers of work, the first two are not-for-profit organizations who distribute most of the money they collect and all stations - terrestrial and Internet based - pay them.
They are based on a percentage of the station's income and amount to approximately three percent, according to the comentary I have read by the owner of an Internet radio station.
The "performance royalty" rates recently announced by the CRB are a fee collected by SoundExchange on behalf of record companies, they are charged on a "number of listeners times number of songs" baisis, and - thanks to the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 - they are paid by Internet broadcasters only. The rates for the period covering 2006 - 2010 are so extreme they threaten Internet radio as a viable model.
I don't doubt their projected figures, though. It's easy to arrive at them. Just estimate the number of people who listened to Internet radio music stations in 2006, multiply that by the number of songs you think got played and multiply that by $.0008.
A few billion wouldn't suprise me. -
Save Our Internet Radio
Check out www.saveourinternetradio.com. Sign the online petition. Write your Congressman. For anybody out there who listens to stations like Radio Paradise and Pandora (my personal favorite), let your voice be heard before these staggering fees kill these great stations.
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Re:Haven't we heard this before?
Bill from RP covers that at http://www.saveourinternetradio.com/
He says maybe they can work out some way to get extorted like they did five years ago, but they aren't confident about it, and probably won't be able to afford it.