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Update: Internet Radio's Day of Silence is...Today

TUESDAY JUNE 26 2007 2:00 PM

Submitted by PointBlank. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: RIAA, Day of Silence, Internet Radio

Those of you who listen to Internet radio stations such as Rhapsody, Pandora, or MTV may have noticed that there isn�t any music being broadcast today. That�s because today is the Official Internet Radio Day of Silence. As was reported earlier, today�s silence is to draw attention to the new royalty rates for webcast music that go into effect on July 15th (retroactive to January of last year). Many in the industry believe that these new rates will cripple independent Internet radio, if not destroy it all together. The new royalty rates will drastically increase the current royalty rate paid to RIAA offshoot SoundExchange. Some smaller webcasters will be able to pay a smaller annual fee, but only if they severely limit the number of people who stream their stations. Larger Internet radio companies may have to fork over close to a billion dollars in fees.

Here's how they say they derived that figure: When the CRB decided earlier this year to change the rules for Internet broadcasters, it also decided to levy a $500 minimum annual fee per Internet radio "channel." SoundExchange, the non-profit music industry entity that collects the royalty and other fees on behalf of record labels, says that minimum payment is supposed to cover administrative costs.

But since some of the larger Internet radio services potentially offer their listeners hundreds of thousands of unique "channels" (RealNetworks' Rhapsody offered more than 400,000 in 2006 alone, according to a company spokesman), the companies view the ruling as forcing them to multiply that mandatory minimum payment accordingly (for Real, that would amount to $200 million.)

Such an amount would far outpace the $20 million in total royalty fees collected by SoundExchange from the Internet radio industry last year, the CEOs note in their letter. And besides, it's not even clear that those payments would go to artists, as royalty payments do, the companies argue.

So who and what is SoundExchange? Ostensibly, they are the group responsible for handing out royalties to RIAA recording artists. Sounds like a pretty reasonable group, right? Well, maybe it would be, but according to its own website thousands of artists have gone unpaid because SoundExchange can�t find them. I�m sure with the new money they�ll be raking in from webcast music they�ll be able to find such shrinking violets as Ted Nugent.

Then there�s the story of Sound Exchange consultant Hank Medress who got rich off of �The Lion Sleeps Tonight� while the original writer and singer, Solomon Linda, died penniless in South Africa. A class act and perhaps the best example of the RIAA�s �do as we say, not as we do� policies.

If you miss your Internet radio, please contact your Senators and Representatives and urge them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act.

13 Comments

Affy

Chicago, IL

March 2006

JUN 26, 2007 02:05 PM

saydlen

Grand Rapids, MI

May 2003

JUN 26, 2007 02:11 PM

<3 RIAA

You're ridiculousness continues to astound.

existentialblues

Marietta, GA

July 2006

JUN 26, 2007 02:14 PM

CALL YOUR SENATORS AND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW TO ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR THE INTERNET RADIO EQUALITY ACT, S. 1353 IN THE SENATE AND H.R. 2060 IN THE HOUSE!
"A few tips I can share with you which make it easier to call for those shy folks among you:

1) These people work for *us* the people, so they should be so lucky as to hear from you. Don't feel like you are taking up their time, because it is really your time. They get paid by your taxes.

2) You will not actually reach the representative or senator - instead you will reach one of their legislative aids. Those young men and women are actually the ones doing most of the work. Usually an aide is the one who picks up the phone, so get straight to your issue once they do.

3) If you called once before, then please call again. Often times it just takes persistent calling. Obviously if you called your Representatives before, chances are you didn't get to call your Senators yet."

~ from the www.di.fm statement on their observance of the day of silence.
for more info please please please visit
SaveNetRadio!

ZenTrixter

Ethiopia

October 2002

JUN 26, 2007 02:36 PM

Please get a hold of someone NOW. Seriously, this is a no-lube bend-over...

SatansPetCat

Bellevue, WA

January 2006

JUN 26, 2007 02:52 PM

I called.

I don't want to lose DI. I'd cry and cry without it.

ElPasoAgresso

San Francisco, CA

April 2004

JUN 26, 2007 02:53 PM

Check out the RIAA Boycott.

SuicidePuppies

Oakland, CA

June 2003

JUN 26, 2007 03:07 PM

I've never seen any other industry work so hard to shoot itself in the foot.

Stupid, out-of-touch, RIAA.

d20

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

JUN 26, 2007 04:30 PM

publicAnemone said:
Check out the RIAA Boycott.

what's funny is that on the zeitgeist, Zeitgeist is currently #1 in the past 7 days (and it's RIAA-free, whee!)

Sexdwarf

Hermosa Beach, CA

February 2003

JUN 26, 2007 04:39 PM

I really fucking hate the RIAA, they've just been making asses of themselves, and fucking everyone for so long now.

But who I HATE EVEN MORE, is congress going along with such a FUCKDICULOUSNESS. I don't care what the argument for this is, the fact of the matter is that the Recording industry got fat and lazy, then their fantasy land bubble exploded in their face. What this really is, is, the government needlessly bailing out an industry whose glut finally took its toll and now they want to hold on to their golden years, at any expense, for as long as they can.

Fucking bunch of douche bags.

Ask me how I really feel.

guerillasphere

San Francisco, CA

March 2006

JUN 26, 2007 05:43 PM

this sucks. i am making calls now to try to help SOMAfm, they rule!

PointBlank

New York, NY

November 2004

JUN 26, 2007 07:59 PM

Another thing I didn't mention: a lot of my favorite radio stations are smallish, local broadcast stations who also webcast their over-the-air progamming on the internet. These stations, like the previously mentioned WFMU (new jersey) will, at he very least, have to cap the number of people who stream their broadcasts or choose to give up the service.

Since WFMU is a broadcast, as well as a webcast, station, they had to keep some content on the air, so instead of silence, they put out an entire day of non-RIAA material. It was great.

Sexdwarf

Hermosa Beach, CA

February 2003

JUN 26, 2007 11:46 PM

Everyone should take the small amount of time and small amount of a long distance call to voice their opinion on this one.

Element_103

Killeen, TX

September 2005

JUN 27, 2007 12:15 PM

News from the front states that many 'local' or broadcast radio stations are now exempt from paying fees for streaming their broadcast over their websites. Sounds like double dipping if they don't pay the same as internet radio like my fave Pandora will be forced to do.