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Blow to Internet Radio |
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The RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America, has convinced the Copyright Board to substantially raise rates internet radio sites must pay to record labels. Flat rates per song will be charged, revenue sharing no longer an option, and the help provided in 2002 under the Small Webcasters Settlement Act is essentially revoked. As most of these sites already fail to take a profit, the effect will be devastating. All is not lost, however, as Congress will meet tomorrow afternoon, March 7th, for a hearing on this very issue. If you enjoy the accessibility internet radio provides, or appreciate the doors opened up to relative unknowns, call your local congressperson’s office and share that feeling.
To inform yourself of the legal aspect, visit the Broadcast Law Blog.
For your congressperson’s contact information link here
This, as well as the internet privacy issue we talked about earlier, are good examples of the way that the jaws seem to be closing around independent media, especially in the internet realm, as large companies try to maintain their grip on information and the profits that flow from it.
It’s scary, really, because the essense of America has always been the idea of a free market, but increasingly our laws seem geared toward restricting, if not downright precluding, small-scale enterprise.
As a punk rock song once claimed, “we want the airwaves back.” We also want our bandwidth back. Write your representative, and cut this unsightly plant off before it buds.