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Licensing Problem Silences Internet Radio Stations
SEWilco writes "Hundreds of Internet radio stations that use SWCast.net for services have been affected by a shutdown triggered by SoundExchange, who claim lack of payment of royalty fees. Apparently SoundExchange has a new president, and this might be a factor in acting on several years of missing payments. In the meantime, SWCast radio stations suffer after paying to legally broadcast."
Silences is an anagram for licenses. That's all I have. But I found that more interesting than TFS.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Wow. SWCast's "President" looks like an emo 17-year-old teen who just pulled a suit jacket out of a laundry hamper.
I'm surprised he's not wearing a fedora, too.
Unfortunately, I don't think things bode well for SWCast members.... The post by the CEO was lots of words about his wonderful past and very little substance about addressing the take down notice by SoundExchange. The SWCast CEO failed to refute any of their claims or provide any reassurance that their service would be up soon (note that this may be on the advice of his lawyers, but he doesn't even mention that he is working with his lawyers to resolve it ASAP)
He doesn't even apologize to customers for the disruption.
In the meantime, SWCast radio stations suffer after paying to legally broadcast.
Well, I'm sorry, suckers, but that's what you get. If there's one lesson that New Media needs to get mercilessly beaten into its collective brain, it's that you do not attempt to play ball with Old Media. If anyone expected to get anything but fucked, shame on them.
Hey, I finally got my first freak! Took you long enough!
No it is far closer to say that if you need to pay taxes and instead you pay a guy on the streetcorner that says he will take care of everything for you... well, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
At the very least some people should have checked up on what was going on. Apparently, the people paying SWCast didn't check to see that they were actually legitimate. They were not, so anyone that trusted them got screwed.
Have you SEEN his pic? Good grief! http://www.swcast.net/
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
And that's sooo different to SoundExchange failing to pay artists because it "can't find them"!
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I keep hearing the word license used more and more to copyrighted works. I remember it beginning with software, which was a word that we distinguished as applying to the executable binaries, not the source code. This distinction remained for a long time, justifying the contractual relationship with using software that does not apply to reading books. Now, we hear licensing all the time to copyrighted works. This is creating an image that the owner of the copyright can unilaterally create a contractual relationship tied to what happens after the works are copied. In the context of music, is it justifiable to refer to these fees as a form of licensing? Should we be pushing back on the use of the term "licensing"?
Open Standards Portal
nobody should be playing ball w/soundexchange. it's a racket, pure and simple. 40,000 internet radio stations were silenced overnight when these new broadcasting fees, abetted congress, aimed only at and deliberately hobbling internet radio, kicked in a decade ago.
no station is "thriving" today despite claims by se to the contrary, unless they use streaming as a loss leader for other profitable ventures.
between soundexchange and now data caps what could have been a new, exciting and truly democratic broadcasting medium where anyone could stream content to anywhere, has been throttled to near asphyxiation.
internet broadcasters should simply shut down and walk away until congress and the music industry realize that the promotional value of streaming - like ota broadcasting - far outweighs any limited fees that accrue from performance royalties.
- js.
"Pop" music is as ephemeral as a mayfly -- top 10 today and forgotten tomorrow. Listen instead to classical music. While recent performances might be under copyright, the music itself is no longer protected. By "classical music", I mean not only Bach and Beethoven but also music that was popular 50-100 years ago and is still popular. Streaming broadcasts of such music over the Internet do not seem impacted by the contention between SWCast.net and SoundExchange.
By the way, see what I have to say about current copyright laws at the top of [http://www.rossde.com/music.html].