RIAA Says Webcasting Royalties Are Too Low

Karl writes "The RIAA announced today their intention to appeal the royalty rates for internet radio decided on by the Librarian of Congress. Today was the very last day to file for an appeal." The webcasters put out of business by the royalties include SomaFM, Monkeyradio, KPIG, and many others. At least a few Congressional representatives support revising CARP to give small webcasters a chance to survive.

Comments

Re:MonkeyRadio RULED :'(

[nanojath]

Yeah, we all need to march on our centers of government and demand that they subsidize all businesses that "rule," whether or not they have a business model or any rational method of generating income.

Listen, I'm no fan of the RIAA or the trends in intellectual property law madness, but the people who own the rights to copyrighted material have a right to be compensated for the use of that material. And spare me the guff about information wanting to be free or how it can't be illegal to violate copyright because you don't physically steal anything or prevent the original owner from using the product. There's no law of physics that says cars can only go fifty-five, nevertheless we have speed limits.

Advice to the MonkeyRadios of this world: get a business model. Get one not based on being allowed to freely distribute someone else's property. And to you listeners who think it "rules," figure out if you want advertisements or subscription charges, or if you'd rather just listen to your CD collectiona and whine. 'Cause guess what - your news flash for the day is that this shit ain't free.