Less Diversity on the way, thanks to the RIAA's influence thru Sound Exchange

[captex]

these are great posts, thank you.

 

[FightingIrish]

Re: Less Diversity on the way, thanks to the RIAA's influence thru Sound Exchang

And then to further muddy the waters you've got recording artists themselves coming out in favor of the new rate hikes.

http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=137351&pt=todaysnews

This yoyo's statement really betrays the ignorance so many of these people have about web radio:

"Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister added, "With the shrinking royalties from the usual sources, the ever expanding digital universe is apparently becoming the future and, before our very eyes, it is here now."

That may be true of music downloads but web radio has yet to make even a tiny fraction of what terrestrial radio takes in. Most internet stations break even or run at a loss. In the future, as web radio grows and is perceived as a viable advertising medium, perhaps it will do well but if these rates are allowed to stand this "ever expanding digital universe" will shrink with great suddeness.

And if artists support the RIAA on this then they should expect to get zip from internet radio because it will no longer be there to generate royalties for them.

db

Well, they can trot out some Michelle Shocked, Jay Jay French and some obscure drummer, but we've got David Byrne of the Talking Heads on our side. And guess what? He's also a webcaster!

http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/040607/index.shtml
http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2007/04/4107_your_gover.html

And now Bryan Adams has our backs. He's against the CRB royalty hike.

Entertainment lawyer Fred Wilhelms is trying to round up artists to oppose this thing. I say 'way to go!'

http://p2pnet.net/story/11987

 

[oaktree]

Re: Less Diversity on the way, thanks to the RIAA's influence thru Sound Exchang

My understanding is that it doesn't "need" to be law to put into motion May 15th. Congress can only block it, stop it or make a new law. They already gave the Copyright Office to establish a "collection agency" - that being SoundExchange. The CRB made its intention known.

It goes into effect May 15th unless Congress intervenes to block it or stop it.

The next stop - the Court of Appeals ... a year process. Slim chance of judicial reversal.

 

[CTListener]

Even CHR Internet radio is better than traditional. I'm a big fan of .977, The Hitz Channel especially, and I've heard more backtracks there that I love today... ones that I never heard on traditional radio.

CHR stands for Contemporary HIT Radio. If the "backtracks" you're hearing on some Internet "CHR" were never played on traditional radio, then they weren't hits, were they? I think you're listening to a new format entirely: Album Pop.

Back on topic: Can't American webcasters get around this by having some operation in Antigua or Bermuda do the work for them? What's to prevent some foreign entrepreneurs from setting up live365.bm and streaming music free and clear, out of reach of Sound Exchange and the RIAA? It worked for Internet gambling until the Puritans in Congress strong-armed the banks into refusing to transfer funds to those operations, right?

 

[streamer]

Re: Less Diversity on the way, thanks to the RIAA's influence thru Sound Exchang

Back on topic: Can't American webcasters get around this by having some operation in Antigua or Bermuda do the work for them? What's to prevent some foreign entrepreneurs from setting up live365.bm and streaming music free and clear, out of reach of Sound Exchange and the RIAA? It worked for Internet gambling until the Puritans in Congress strong-armed the banks into refusing to transfer funds to those operations, right?

A few of us have thought that, however legal opinion is that Soundexchange has the right to collect on ANY stream, irrespective of origin for royalties listened TO in the United States. Internet streaming across borders is fraught. I know the UK licensing authorities tried to get some US organizations to pay for the UK listeners that listened to the stations. IN fact, a lot of UK stations have geo-locked their streams so only UK listeners can listen!

Whilst we have one BIG battle to get through now, we have many that will follow!

 

[jcolletta275]

Re: Less Diversity on the way, thanks to the RIAA's influence thru Sound Exchang

Even CHR Internet radio is better than traditional. I'm a big fan of .977, The Hitz Channel especially, and I've heard more backtracks there that I love today... ones that I never heard on traditional radio.

CHR stands for Contemporary HIT Radio. If the "backtracks" you're hearing on some Internet "CHR" were never played on traditional radio, then they weren't hits, were they?

They probably WOULD have been hits... had traditional radio given them a chance. Album Pop or CHR, whatever you want to call it... I see no difference between the two other than the fact that traditional radio isn't as willing to take chances with music as Internet radio is. That's exactly one of the reasons why people who prefer Internet radio prefer it: more variety.