If you tried to tune into your favorite Internet radio station yesterday you would have heard nothing — yesterday was a “Day of Silence” to raise awareness of the attempt to get the Copyright Royalty Board to rescind their insane new royalty scheme for Internetcasting.
I wrote about this in Backspin a few weeks ago in The imminent death of Internet radio. To understand just how insane this highway robbery, er, royalty actually is, Rusty Hodge, the music director of one of my favorite Internet radio stations, Somafm.com (my favorite channel is Groovesalad), noted that he will have to pay retroactive charges of $600,000 and next year royalty payments will amount to five times his revenue!
The royalty increases aren’t just substantial, they are swingeing and irrational — the basis of calculating payments makes no sense unless the goal is to create a market that limits entry by setting the financial bar so high that only the biggest players can afford to play.
A cynic might think that this is intentional leaving the field open for certain big commercial interests to control the online broadcast music world. But the real I-don’t-believe-that-this-is-real factor are the retroactive royalties. I can’t understand how the hell a retroactive royalty can be considered fair, ethical, or applicable to a supposedly free market! If your municipality was to retroactively increase your water and sewerage charges or Edison was to retroactively charge for electricity there would be rioting in the streets!
Be that as it may, the big issue is that if you believe that Internet radio matters, that our culture is richer because of Internet radio and that it provides exposure of a wider range of music and artists than traditional radio ever can then you are obligated to take action.
Go to SaveNetRadio.Org and use their service to identify your representatives and then call to make your voice heard (you might also contribute a few bucks). Internet radio matters and if the CRB get their way it will set a precedence for future restraints of Internet commerce that will squeeze out the small players and leave a clear field for large corporations to call the shots. Save Internet radio — it’s not only good for your ears, it’s good for our culture.
