B101/Philly To Stop Streaming

[Carmine5]

This from R&R:
B101/Philly To Stop Streaming: Lee protesting royalty rates

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebsite20/members/ShowHeadline.aspx?FormatId=0&ContentID=47744

I'm glad to see someone in radio finally standing up to these thugs at SoundEx. Maybe online is radio's future but not at these rates. All stations that stream music should follow Jerry's lead.

What is happening here is nothing less than legal extortion.

C5

 

[TheBigA]

And they can't understand why terrestrial broadcasters are so hell bent against allowing the same thing on their side. To me, if I'm in the NAB, digital royalties and the way SX has handled them are the best argument against a performance tax I could ever see. It's allowing the music industry to act like a legal cartel. There is no competition. You MUST deal with SX for all copyrighted music. You pay the royalty, or you don't play music. Jerry Lee has decided he won't play the music. Good for him. I hope he gets a lot of company. And I hope a lot of NAB members complain to their reps about the deal they just cut.

 

[Carmine5]

And they can't understand why terrestrial broadcasters are so hell bent against allowing the same thing on their side. To me, if I'm in the NAB, digital royalties and the way SX has handled them are the best argument against a performance tax I could ever see. It's allowing the music industry to act like a legal cartel. There is no competition. You MUST deal with SX for all copyrighted music. You pay the royalty, or you don't play music. Jerry Lee has decided he won't play the music. Good for him. I hope he gets a lot of company. And I hope a lot of NAB members complain to their reps about the deal they just cut.

Well, finally something we can agree on.

Radio is under assault. The Obama Administration wants to put a tax on spectrum use, Capitol Hill/RIAA wants a Performance Tax, ad revenues (and contributions for non-comms) are way down and now this.

Something has got to give and it shouldn't have to be entirely radio that's doing the giving. It's time that broadcasters, large and small, revolt, with or without the support of the NAB (and as you observed they have effectively sold radio out on this issue). What Jerry Lee is doing is a very good start.

C5

 

[TheBigA]

What Jerry Lee is doing is a very good start.

Over on the LA board, someone posted that a major radio group is about to drop their streams for the same reason. Take your pick who it is. All the big groups are hurting. The last thing they need is give over 10% of revenues to someone else.

A spectrum fee might be a better deal. I could imagine what went through those Congressmen's minds as Billy Corgan testified this week. Consider how much each Congressman spends on advertising for re-election. Here are musicians who get their product on the radio for free, and they want to add a fee to it. What's in it for Congress? NOTHING! What do the constituents get? NOTHING. So I can see Congress going to broadcasters saying they'll vote against the performance tax, but you're gonna have to give us a taste.

 

[scanman1]

It's just as well. The web streams generally sound worse than the over the air audio and I always prefer listening on a real radio. IMO all the stations can shut them down and save the needed money (most of those web streams sound like dog doo).

 

[Carmine5]

It's just as well. The web streams generally sound worse than the over the air audio and I always prefer listening on a real radio. IMO all the stations can shut them down and save the needed money (most of those web streams sound like dog doo).

One reason for a station to stream its terrestrial content is to reach people in areas where a radio signal couldn't penetrate, such as an office building.

But where I work, and I know this is true for many companies, those web streams are blocked. So I'm not sure how effective a web stream of a station's terrestrial signal would be anyway.

Of course, for those far away from home this is a way for them to hear their local station and, in some ways, radio station web streaming has replaced DX'ing. So to stream or not to stream is a judgement call stations need to make. Does it make sense, economically? For many stations the answer is no.

C5

 

[brlmedia]

i read the b101 stream actually registered in the ratings??

i think the listener gets left out in the end, i am sure alot of us listen to stations out of our market online, it is a shame.

 

[icycool7227]

Yes far away such as myself is a good reason to stream. Another is that the radio market they live in has nothing but crappy radio. Milwaukee, WI has very bad radio stations. There's too much old stuff.

If Jerry wanted to protest you'd see him gathering people up walking around with signs outside of the Sound Exchange building headquarters. He's setting a bad example IMO.

It's just as well. The web streams generally sound worse than the over the air audio and I always prefer listening on a real radio. IMO all the stations can shut them down and save the needed money (most of those web streams sound like dog doo).

One reason for a station to stream its terrestrial content is to reach people in areas where a radio signal couldn't penetrate, such as an office building.

But where I work, and I know this is true for many companies, those web streams are blocked. So I'm not sure how effective a web stream of a station's terrestrial signal would be anyway.

Of course, for those far away from home this is a way for them to hear their local station and, in some ways, radio station web streaming has replaced DX'ing. So to stream or not to stream is a judgement call stations need to make. Does it make sense, economically? For many stations the answer is no.

C5

 

[TheBigA]

If Jerry wanted to protest you'd see him gathering people up walking around with signs outside of the Sound Exchange building headquarters. He's setting a bad example IMO.

The first rule of negotiation is you have to be willing to walk away, to say no. That's what he's doing. Up til now, no one has said no. Better gameplans don't work if they feel they have you by the short ones. And the labels feel they do.

The next step is to come up with royalty free content that competes. That's the way to break a cartel. Cartels hate competition. Break the cartel, and you can negotiate.

Physical protests don't mean squat. Demonstrations in front of a building is a :10 sound byte on the evening news and nothing more. The place to hurt them is in the pocketbook, and show some strength.

The artists don't care. It's the major labels who are pushing this royalty. They are the ones who have the most to lose.