I love internet radio. Some of my favorites include RadioParadise.com, Pandora.com and Last.fm. They have been the primary forces for expanding my knowledge and appreication for independent and cutting edge music artists. However, the big money music publishing houses, in partnership with the federal government and large commercial radio, are looking to shut down the entire industry. From Forbes.com:
Traditional radio may be losing its audience, but Internet radio stations–or more accurately, Web sites that stream music over the Web–are growing in popularity. But their commercial prospects could worsen under new rules that will raise their costs dramatically. Last week the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board, an obscure arm of the Library of Congress, voted to more than double the fees Web sites that stream music must pay record companies.The higher rates will affect all Internet radio businesses, from mom-and-pop commercial Webcasters to big portal destinations such as Time Warner’s AOL and Yahoo!; it will also affect traditional and satellite radio companies that provide online feeds of their broadcasts.
The rest of the Forbes article is here.
If you too like internet radio, and do not wish to see it shut down or driven to subscriber only status (big subscription fees to pay for the royalties), then review and sign the petition found at the following link:
Technorati Tags: savethestreams, internet radio
Powered by ScribeFire.
Check out slacker.com as an interesting competitor to pandora.