Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a big net radio fan. The variety, customization, and creativity simply cannot be matched by commercial broadcast radio, which of course is why they are trying to kill it. With this retroactive royalty rate hike, nearly all of the small broadcasters and many of the commercially supported ones, like my favs – Accuradio and Live365 – will probably fold and we we’ll be back to a sterile Clearvision world. Its all about the cash, because most artists don’t support it but many don’t control their work anymore contractually. Talk about screwed up. And, like I said before, the corps will come after podcasts next, so your attention and action are needed. If you haven’t emailed your congressional rep, go to SaveNetRadio and speak out now while there is still time.
SaveNetRadio Coalition Joins the Fight to Preserve the Future of
Internet Radio
WASHINGTON D.C. – Today representatives of the growing SaveNetRadio
coalition announced the launch of a national grassroots campaign to preserve the future
of Internet radio. The coalition of Internet radio listeners, music labels, artists, and
webcasters was formed in response to a March 2nd ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board
that increases the fees webcasters pay to play music online by 300-1200 percent and
threatens to bankrupt the vast majority of webcasters.
“The CRB’s ill informed decision to increase royalty fees to this unjustifiable
level will quite simply bankrupt most webcasters and destroy Internet radio,” Jake Ward,
a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio campaign said. “Radio on the Internet is not a
passing fad or for a niche audience. It is an enormously popular medium that offers
unprecedented diversity for its more than 70 million listeners and for artists. Particularly
for independent artists, Internet radio has the ability to reach millions of fans across the
country who would otherwise never hear their music. Net radio has changed the way
people listen to, buy, promote and market music and we cannot afford to let it die.”
Members of the coalition, including webcasters, artists, and labels from
throughout the country met with the media this morning to voice their concerns about the
Copyright Royalty Board’s decision and its impact on Net radio and pledge their support
for the campaign. The coalition’s website – SaveNetRadio.org – was also launched
today and will enable the more than 70 million net radio listeners and hundreds of
thousands of artists nationwide who enjoy and depend on Internet radio, to learn more
about what they can do to help preserve music diversity on the Internet and ensure the
future of Net radio itself.
Coalition members meeting with the media today included: Kurt Hanson from
AccuRadio; Johnie Floater from Live365; Joe Kennedy from Pandora; Courtney Delaney
from webcaster and on-line retailer Outbound Music; Reno, Nevada based band Sol’Jibe;
New York City based band The Velocet; Rob Waller of Western Seeds Records; and, JT
Coldfire of Roots Music Association. Comments and views of these coalition members
are posted on the coalition website.
The increased royalty rate, scheduled to take effect May 15th, will become the
single largest operating expense for webcasters according to a recent J.P. Morgan
Securities, Inc. study, and the majority of webcasters will not be able to generate enough
advertising revenue to avoid bankruptcy. Because the CRB rates are retroactive to
January 1, 2006, even if effective for only a single day, past due royalties alone will be
enough to bankrupt virtually all small and mid-sized webcasters, many of whom are the
hallmarks of programming diversity. According to The American Association of
Independent Music, Net radio plays nearly four times as much independent music as
terrestrial FM radio.
For more information on the SaveNetRadio coalition visit www.savenetradio.org
