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17 April 2007
More bad news Because today didn't suck hard enough...
Write to your representatives. Messages will be delivered to Congressmen and Senators via e-mail, fax, or post. I encourage every American interested in the issue to take the time to fill out the necessary form. Leave a paper trail! Make sure senators know that this stack of paper that comes in to the office every morning is about internet radio. In a democracy, the only power is in numbers.
I'm sort of at wit's end here. I already don't buy music from RIAA members (although I may slip now and again, I do try to do my homework), and I don't listen to their buddies on Clear Channel. What, short of going door-to-door and driving railroad spikes between the eyes of label executives, can a poor boy do?
On preview: yeah, I wrote my representatives. It's not nearly as satisfying as playing John Henry at the Sony/BMI offies, but it's a bit more legal. Let's see if they do something.
We'd be pretty screwed if LoudCity put the prices up. I'm not in favour of hoisting the Jolly Roger.
I'm more in favour of placing a complete ban on all music where no license has been explicitly given to play that music through metachat. So, podsafe music or own-recorded music or music where the artist has said it's OK to play a song.
You can hate the royalty charges charged for internet radio, but LoudCity have been pretty creative in aggregating multiple broadcasters in order to circumvent existing laws. This hearing doesn't come as a suprise to me. The RIAA and CRB act and will continue to act in this way until it becomes financially imprudent to do so.
"I already don't buy music from RIAA members (although I may slip now and again, I do try to do my homework), and I don't listen to their buddies on Clear Channel."
Then why are you concerned?
I don't eat at McDonalds, so they could raise their prices threefold, and I wouldn't care one whit.
Jesus Christ, mischief. You've been re-activated for a couple of weeks now, and I don't think you've said a single thing that wasn't combative. Take a pill, dude.
Not exactly "Jolly Roger", but aren't there any services like LoudCity operating outside of United States jurisdiction? Isn't MetaChat.org registered and hosted elsewhere?
There aren't that many places outside of the Berne Convention anymore. Russia, maybe China. Sweden has a few loopholes, that's how Pirate Bay operates.
I somehow just don't feel that all the shoes have dropped here, yet.
Hmmm. Since I just woke up, I'll give mischeif the benefit of the doubt: The RIAA, through their subsidiary Sound Exchange, are raising the royalty rates for internet radio broadcasters to many times their current rate, and many times what is collected from conventional terrestrial radio. This rate will also be retroactive to 2006. The effect of this action will be to crush internet radio, by and large, forcing most broadcasters to shut down for fear of incurring huge amounts of fees. (See also.)
There is still the chance of appeal in another venue, as I understand it, and with a little pressure from the House and/or Senate it might even get overturned. It's a slim chance, and not one I hold out much hope for, but it's what we've got at the moment.
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