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Internet Radio is about to take a massive hit

If Soundexchange gets it's wishes, there will be a $500 minimum and the cost per performance price is going to double.

Perhaps it's because this story came out late on a Friday, but I'm shocked that it hasn't received wider exposure.

There's absolutely no way a boutique, independent internet radio station is going to survive with this cost structure.

I can only surmise the RIAA is trying to KILL internet radio. Read the full story here:

http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml

 
Sgeirk said:
If Soundexchange gets it's wishes, there will be a $500 minimum and the cost per performance price is going to double.

Perhaps it's because this story came out late on a Friday, but I'm shocked that it hasn't received wider exposure.

There's absolutely no way a boutique, independent internet radio station is going to survive with this cost structure.

I can only surmise the RIAA is trying to KILL internet radio. Read the full story here:

http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml


There are some broadcasters trying to get together and get PSAs aimed towards lobbying Congress to change and/or repeal the DMCA which created this mess. I personally am going to lobby hard my three representatives of course without private jets and golf outings it will be tough to get anything passed. Need to have a massive call in to Congress on this issue.
 
OK I'm a novice but a huge radio fan and a huge Internet radio fan. My favorite stations are Radio Paradise, Legato Cafe, and lately I've been digging Rich Brother Robbins' Oldies station.

Many of you who post on this board topic are "professionals". You who are Internet broadcasters know about royalties and the like. Here's my question:

How would any of the these new rules be enforced?? Is there a massive "Internet Police Force" who will be checking on each broadcaster?? If that broadcaster is not obeying the "Law", would they soon be hearing a knock on the door?
Would each of you be getting served with a court order?? How many Internet broadcasters are out there anyway?? What if everyone ignored the law? What would happen?
 
Sgeirk said:
If Soundexchange gets it's wishes, there will be a $500 minimum and the cost per performance price is going to double.

Perhaps it's because this story came out late on a Friday, but I'm shocked that it hasn't received wider exposure.

There's absolutely no way a boutique, independent internet radio station is going to survive with this cost structure.

I can only surmise the RIAA is trying to KILL internet radio. Read the full story here:

http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml


Yes, I'm surprised that there isn't more of an outcry of rage here over these insane royalty rates. The CRB is effectively closing down internet radio. It could put Live 365 and similar services out of business.

Notice this quote from Ron Goldstein, founder of Radio Paradise: "This royalty structure would wipe out an entire class of business: Small independent webcasters such as myself & my wife, who operate Radio Paradise. Our obligation under this rate structure would be equal to over 125% of our total income. There is no practical way for us to increase our income so dramatically as to render that affordable." And Radio Paradise is perhaps the most-successful webcaster in its class!

According to the RAIN newsletter, negotiations are going on between Sound Exchange and webcasters regarding a voluntary percentage-of-revenues royalty rate. Hopefully that will come to pass as I think everyone benefits from having internet radio alive and well; new artists, old and obscure music that would never get played on terrestrial radio, community radio, etc.

As it stands, we're about to see a classic case of greed killing the goose that's laying golden eggs for artists, songwriters and publishers.

db
 
Many small webcasters are just now finding out about this. On the private
broadcaster forums on Live365, I can assure you, there are some unhappy folks.

The "retroactive" part really seems unfair, as webcasters who have been operating
legally could find themselves owing extra fees. This is not right.

I have been a webcaster since 2001. For every step forward webcasters make, the
RIAA and cohorts do every thing in their power to stop it.

The indie artists will probably suffer. The RIAA represents the record labels and suits.
I do not believe there is a single musician, artist, or songwriter on their board.

You probably WILL see some of your favorite small webcasters throw in the towel. Others
will find a way to survive, as always. That may mean adding commercials to streams that are now non-commercial. Many small webcasters lose money on their stations. My station is in this category
as costs for everything keep going up.

I predict you will see and hear more about this as the webcasters find out about it. They won't be quiet about it, since webcasters concerns were ignored in the decision.

I have enough old public domain music to run for quite some time. Maybe an all public domain
station would catch someone's attention (but maybe not too many listeners) :-[

I'm sure your favorite webcasters would appreciate any support you can give them. It's a
tough spot to be in.
 
This is enforced by doubling what a legal broadcaster pays the RIAA, otherwise the RIAA cops come after you in a court of law with their billyclubs and funny hats.
 
Yeah..

Radio Daddy is talking about it... Live 365 is also mentioning it.

Thanks Surfside!! We need PSA's to run on stations big time.

also, http://www.savenetradio.org is up.

If your a webcaster you either know about it, or will be hearing about it.
 
Probably a silly question, but will this affect radio stations that have a normal "local antenna area" listenership, but also have a internet feed? I occasionally listen to Ted "The Bear" Richards (I grew up listening to him on CKLW back in the glory days) on a internet feed from a station out of somewhere in Wisconsin that does a internet simulcast.
 
Griff said:
Probably a silly question, but will this affect radio stations that have a normal "local antenna area" listenership, but also have a internet feed?

Yes. Some stations will quit streaming. It includes all streaming that involves RIAA music, but does not
effect over-the-air rates.
 
Sgeirk said:
This is enforced by doubling what a legal broadcaster pays the RIAA, otherwise the RIAA cops come after you in a court of law with their billyclubs and funny hats.

I'm under the impression that most terrestrial broadcasters/netcasters have ignored the soundexchange, thus far--on the assumption that--like most regulatory entities--it's really 3 bureaucrats & a receptionist trying to police the world. Have any of these outfits actually ever been caught and fined? If so, how much? If not, why lose sleep?
 
RatingsGeek wrote: "I'm under the impression that most terrestrial broadcasters/netcasters have ignored the soundexchange, thus far--on the assumption that--like most regulatory entities--it's really 3 bureaucrats & a receptionist trying to police the world. Have any of these outfits actually ever been caught and fined? If so, how much? If not, why lose sleep?"

You do pay your taxes each year, don't you?

Not paying SoundExchange is copyright infringement. It can result in a civil suit for money damages of up to $150,000 per song, plus criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment. It's no big deal for SoundExchange to locate any streamer on the web if you want any listeners to be able to find you.

Sweet dreams.
 
SuperRadioFan said:
I'm still waiting to be "educated" about this. Can anyone tell me how all this would be enforced?

I'm sure that this will be enforced in a similar way Napster and file sharing software was. It's likely they've already identified the largest users, or as they surely see it 'abusers', and they'll likely range from Clear Channel to CBS and down on through the likes of Live 365 to the individual. Even more likely they've identified those who most likely can and can't pay. If people don't pay - they file suit and make an example of someone who was just sharing their music online. Unfortunately, It's really the music industry that will hurt if this isn't repealed as there's less potential income for the artists. There's no way most can make the revenue that's being required without a fee based service, multiple commercial breaks or incessant pop ups. How to pay for what's already played? A second mortgage?
 
My apologies - current radio stations with a streaming counterpart are covered under BMI and ASCAP - sorry for any confusion.
 
vsa said:
RatingsGeek wrote: "I'm under the impression that most terrestrial broadcasters/netcasters have ignored the soundexchange, thus far--on the assumption that--like most regulatory entities--it's really 3 bureaucrats & a receptionist trying to police the world. Have any of these outfits actually ever been caught and fined? If so, how much? If not, why lose sleep?"

You do pay your taxes each year, don't you?

Not paying SoundExchange is copyright infringement. It can result in a civil suit for money damages of up to $150,000 per song, plus criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment. It's no big deal for SoundExchange to locate any streamer on the web if you want any listeners to be able to find you.

Sweet dreams.

Thanks for a sound explanation. Yes we pay our taxes grrrrr. Just imagine if Mr Spock could perform a Vulcan mind melt and get every single Internet broadcaster to ignore any and all such court action... Wow would that clog up courts so much the lawmakers would need to repeal the law or have SoundExchange amend the payment schedule. Haha. John and Ken of KFI Los Angeles used to talk about summons for jury duty and how they (wink wink) ignore them and by God nothing happened to them. I know its not the same thing as being served with papers by a licensed process server but its fun to think about.
 
fells said:
My apologies - current radio stations with a streaming counterpart are covered under BMI and ASCAP - sorry for any confusion.

BMI and ASCAP are licence fees for the songwriters, and have nothing to do with Sound Exchange or the new RIAA fees which are ADDITIONAL performance royalties, allegedly for artists and record companies.

Brief quotes:
SoundExchange is the first organization formed in the United States to collect performance royalties for sound recording copyright owners (SRCOs), featured and nonfeatured artists. SoundExchange is an independent nonprofit performance rights organization that currently represents over 1,000 record companies, their 3000+ labels and thousands of artists united in receiving a fair price for the licensing of their music in a new digital world. Our members include small, medium and large independent record companies, as well as the major label groups and artist-owned labels.

Sound Exchange does not cover:
Analog public performances (traditional radio and television)

I'm already a member of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. Don't they cover this for me? What is the difference?
No. ASCAP, BMI and SESAC represent a different copyright than SoundExchange. ASCAP, BMI and SESAC collect performance revenue for the owners of the copyrighted musical work (the song), i.e. music publishers, songwriters and composers. SoundExchange collects performance revenue for owners of the sound recording copyright (the recording) and for featured and nonfeatured artists. SoundExchange, therefore, performs a different function and does not compete with ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. In fact, a company with both publishing ("song") copyrights and recording copyrights should join collecting societies administering both types of rights: one for the song and another for the sound recording copyright.

Here is the Link:
http://www.soundexchange.com/faq.html#a1
 
THE RIAA SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

METALLICA STARTED ALL THIS CRAP IN 1999!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The Dude wrote: "METALLICA STARTED ALL THIS CRAP IN 1999!!"

Streaming music radio is not the same as file-sharing/pirating music. My understanding is that webcasters are generally strongly against the stealing of music. They just want to do good radio - legally.
 
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