BrAinPaiNt;1550389 said:
I PMed this link to cajun but just in case others were not aware...
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/07/breaking-news-o.html
thanks bp. as a station owner, i can tell you about all you'd ever want to know on this. here's my latest blog on our "Day of Silence" (fyi - bittorrent and stuff - you're stealing, i'd not brag on that when the entire problem *is* how to pay the artist fairly)
Today, June 26 2007, RenegadeRadio.Net joined forces with all other online radio broadcasters out there and shut down for a day. In this instance yes, it's just for a day and there are times a good technical difficulty can do that to you also. But this time it was by choice.
If enough people don't stand up then next time that choice could get made for us. Once that happens, it gets made for everyone who's not into the politics but just wanted music heard they way they live - online. If the choices get taken from the online broadcaster, they get taken from you - the listener.
The RIAA is running scared and every move seems to show it. In effect with they were handed a magic bullet to keep the very control they've built over the past decades. You see, a record contract with a band/artist spells out just about everything known to man. Who gets paid, how much, what %, under what conditions....yet in 1974, who heard of the internet? How could you put digital rights into a contract when it doesn't exist?
The 80's came and went and the same thing - it wasn't spelled out. Finally it dawned on the industry what a gaping loophole existed. The RIAA asked for hte right to control digital music and by some fluke of ignorance in an apathetic world, they got it. They were given the future and they went for it. Yet they were just as greedy as always and they went for it all. Now. Today.
Hell, retro-charge and pay for the past years. They went for the jugular when instead they should have build around the power, not forcefed it upon us. The damage is done, the moves have been made and in the end, it is my firm belief the RIAA will lose it and they'll be forced to "play fair".
In a nutshell radio stations pay an agency such as BMI for the right to play music. It's a very small amount but it does add up. They turn in the playlist and an agency such as BMI pays their artists from those fees so they do get paid.
The change for internet radio? Well, for FM they play a song once it's called one performance. Fair rate, fair charge and in the end YES - pay the artists. No broadcaster would ever deny an artist fair compensation for their work.
It's why we're here.
Oh yea, the change. The RIAA changed it to mean that 1 play would equal 1 performance PER LISTENER. 10 people listening, you pay that fee 10 times. 100, 100 times. If you're really popular - well you get the picture.
There are some stations such as RenegadeRadio that said "fine, we'll focus on indie while we fight it out". Well, this "magic bullet" I speak of? It gave the RIAA the right to make the broadcaster pay even if the artist *is* indie and gave permission to the station to play their music.
If *I* wrote a song and played it I'd have to pay.
And you just thought the whole "per performance" was ignorance on a ritz cracker floating on a river of stupidity. Well, I did anyway.
Sound Exchange (The RIAA's collection department) says they'll pay the indie as long as they sign up to collect the money.
Sensing a control freak having a bad day yet?
It's going to get worse because the times they are in fact changing. The Internet opens up the world and yes, that loophole I spoke of does need to be closed but closed fairly, not to the advantage of a bunch of old suits ****ting dust in their pants these days because their empire is falling down around them. The one chance they had - that "magic bullet" - misfired and is blowing up in their face.
This day of silence flooded
www.SaveNetRadio.org and their servers and phone lines to congress were busy all day long. People started to realize that the silence they were hearing was wrong because if you didn't hear anything maybe then you realized you were in fact effected by this current situation.
But did it work? Did going through the system and using the processes in place make a difference? Did our "silent protest" spawn enough action to make congress realize they and they alone must hear our silence and act?
Yes.
http://www.house.gov/inslee/multimed...e_06.26.07.wmv
The revolution is coming together and the past control over the freedoms of artists and expression are crumbling. This is an open and free time that you may have read about concerning the late 60s and early 70s where so much was going on and an entire "mood" was set. The Internet offers freedoms of expression never found before and while yes - most definately there's a place to ensure people get paid, it's time to define who the "right" people are to get paid and we just don't have a use for the RIAA any longer.
Thank you to all who've called in and helped all internet stations make their point. It's not over yet and there's a long road ahead. But our silence was heard and more importantly, understood.
Day by day we'll find our way.
iceberg
