Slashdot Mirror
Study Says $2.3B in Net Radio Royalties by '08
An anonymous reader writes "According to a newly published report, the music industry will have a nice pile of cash to collect from net radio owners in 2008 — a staggering $2.3 billion to be exact. The report is based on current performance royalties paid by terrestrial radio vs. internet radio, and taking into account projected growth in listenership. Meanwhile, the corporate Clear Channels pay just $550 Million for broadcasting the same songs we've all heard before. Hardly a fair deal."
According to a newly published report, the music industry will have a nice pile of cash to collect from net radio owners in 2008 -- a staggering $2.3 billion to be exact. The report is based on current performance royalties paid by terrestrial radio vs. internet radio, and taking into account projected growth in listenership.
First, this assumes that everyone will pay the new fees instead of finding alternative unlicensed content (that is free or Creative Commons or other similar content).
Meanwhile, the corporate Clear Channels pay just $550 Million for broadcasting the same songs we've all heard before. Hardly a fair deal.
Second, it is fair. It is called economies of scale. Clear Channel deals is huge quantities. To put it another way, if you go to a local corner market and buy a pack of four rolls of toilet paper for $2.00, then you go to Costco and see the same brand of toilet paper in a box of 40 for $10.00, is that unfair? No, it is called purchasing in bulk. Same as the sort of thing that MS does with corporate VLKs versus regular retail prices.
Are they trying to make money or shut down internet radio? I was under the impression that most internet radio stations were run for fun, not profit.
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
That projected growth is on the tacit assumption that folks will pay more for the same product -- and they won't, The broadcasters will either raise fees or shut down entirely. Either way listenership goes down.
There seems to be the gross assumption that Internet radio is insanely profitable. While it certainly enables small producers an outlet for their work vs conventional broadcasting, they still tend to have small audiences with niche markets.
RIAA just needs to keep pushing until all we listen to is pirated, ripped MP3s all day, everyday.
And the answer is that they are trying to shut down Internet radio. Consider this: currently, you can connect to the Internet almost anywhere with certain data packages from cell phone carriers. Soon, in major metro areas you'll be able to do the same via municipal WiFi or mesh networking. Some people have been streaming Internet ratio in their cars for years, so fully Internet-enabled car stereos can't be far behind. This is a situation that gives Clear Channel and other large radio companies nightmares: the ability of people to choose from thousands of commercials-free radio stations instead of being stuck with the same selection of ten traditional stations.
$2.3B per year on a $23m investment in bribing congress (http://opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=B 02) is:
($2,300,000,000 / $22,699,424) *100%= 10,132% return. = Damn near priceless.
Now RIAA members *could* invest in modernizing their legacy business model, but their current one is clearly much more lucrative.
The *royalty* payments are only for RIAA/BMI/ASCAP/Harry Fox related artists and labels. All the labels in the indie scene and the labels are actually labels that are much bigger than you might think (though this excludes the fake indies or 'boutique labels') will give you - if you ask nicely - a blanket license not only to stream their music but to podcast it as well. Podcasting has serious licensing issues well beyond streaming internet radio but all of this is obviated if you are allowed to negotiate with the label or the copyright owner directly. Remember the RIAA/BMI/Harry Fox are acting on behalf of *their* labels, not music in general. They can not dictate what a label or an artist themselves say if the artist and the labels are not part of that agency.
. html
To be clear, my show gets about 1500 listeners a week and industrial / new wave electro and here is a list of labels that have given permission:
http://www.bloosqr.com/the%20essence/the%20labels
*the irony* of these laws it is giving these labels much more exposure because by definition the indie/hipster/creative kids making their shows are now even more likely to only play music from the indie labels and more over anyone looking for internet music is more than likely to be exposed to music from these labels which given the distate for the "big 4" could easily turn some of these artists/labels into the next big thing
1. I myself have bought albums after hearing certain artists' songs on other net radio stations -- music I would never, ever, ever have heard otherwise except perhaps in the drunken haze of a goth club.
2. Several independent artists have sent me singles and even entire albums, encouraging me to put them in rotation. To quote the latest, after he sent me a few samples and I liked 'em:
This has happened several times. It's good for the artists who are trying to get noticed; it's good for the audience who gets to discover new music; it's good for the broadcaster cause it's just fun. I get permission from many of the labels or artists to play their stuff, and when I don't, well, it's a freaking 96k broadcast that can't be copied without some technical know-how (certainly much more difficult than jamming a tape into your radio and hitting "record"). Exactly who is being harmed here?
The RIAA's outmoded and antiquated business models, and their continued attempts to strangle the life out of emergent technologies, is absolutely appalling. I'll continue to broadcast from my host in Germany and here's a big screw you to the suits. I don't make a single cent off my broadcast, and I don't play the kind of music that would come close to competing with the mass-appeal fare on the normal airwaves. You'll never get a dime from me.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.