The Day The Music Days
For the last couple months, I've been listening to radio on the Internet through the Pandora Internet Radio website. Pandora isn't just radio on the Internet; the website chooses playlists for you based on artists and songs that you select. Compared to the market-tested prepackaged schlock that Clear Channel is hocking on terrestrial radio stations, Pandora and other Internet radio websites like it provide a breath of fresh air by empowering listeners to choose what they want to listen to.
The folks at Pandora spend a considerable amount of time and energy compiling data on all sorts of music. Each song is rated on several categories: theme, tonality, rhythm, percussion, vocal qualities, and on and on. To create a personal radio station, all I had to do was enter in a few songs that I like. Pandora then analyzed the qualities of the songs I entered and selected songs for me to listen to based on those qualities. One of my favorite things about Pandora is that it can make connections across genres; Pandora often plays songs that I like from artists I wouldn't have thought to check out. The radio station is also interactive--I can rate songs that I like or dislike and Pandora will adjust to my ratings.
Predictably, the dinosaurs of the music industry are once again moving to kill off new innovation in an attempt to stave off their extinction. In recent years, the major record companies have taken to suing consumers for downloading music and pressuring online music vendors like iTunes to raise their prices; now they're going after Internet radio stations that allow listeners to experience new music. Instead of addressing the core issues with their product--overpricing and lack of quality--the record companies are trying to suck out every bit of revenue they can while refusing to innovate.
Sadly, the music industry refuses to acknowledge one of the basic truths that could actually help them: hearing good music increases the chance consumers will buy more music. In 2001, for example, the band Wilco took the unusual step of posting its new album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, on its website so fans could here the album in its entirety before it went on sale. YHF became the biggest seller in the band's history and Wilco has since repeated the strategy with A Ghost Is Born (which sold even more copies) and with Sky Blue Sky (due out May 15th). Not only does Pandora expose listeners to new music, it allows them to buy it; the website connects to iTunes and Amazon so if you hear a song you like you can buy it almost immediately.
The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC has ruled in favor of the major record companies; the recent decision to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio will almost surely crush every Internet radio station like Pandora. The new royalty rates are more than four times what satellite radio pays--not to mention that broadcast radio doesn't even pay royalties at all. The rate hike goes into effect May 15th and will be retroactive to--wait for it--January 1st, 2006.
Internet radio stations should pay artists for the songs that they play but those fees should be fair, unlike the punitive rates rendered by the Copyright Royalty Board. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, says "Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential. "
So what can be done? In response to these new and unfair fees, several Internet radio broadcasters have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. Even National Public Radio has joined the fight. SaveNetRadio has exhausted their options with the Copyright Royalty Board; the coalition is now asking for those who support Internet radio to send an e-mail to their congressional representatives.
If you like listening to music or radio online--heck, if you just want to take a stand for the freedom of consumers to choose--please take a minute to check out savenetradio.org and send an e-mail to your senators and representative.
http://www.savenetradio.org/
From SaveNetRadio.org:
The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger. The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC has more than tripled the royalty rates for webcasters and left unchanged they will kill Internet radio. These exorbitant rates go into effect on May 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). Without Congressional action the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. We need your help. Please take a moment to send a letter to your member of Congress to keep Net radio from being silenced.
The folks at Pandora spend a considerable amount of time and energy compiling data on all sorts of music. Each song is rated on several categories: theme, tonality, rhythm, percussion, vocal qualities, and on and on. To create a personal radio station, all I had to do was enter in a few songs that I like. Pandora then analyzed the qualities of the songs I entered and selected songs for me to listen to based on those qualities. One of my favorite things about Pandora is that it can make connections across genres; Pandora often plays songs that I like from artists I wouldn't have thought to check out. The radio station is also interactive--I can rate songs that I like or dislike and Pandora will adjust to my ratings.
Predictably, the dinosaurs of the music industry are once again moving to kill off new innovation in an attempt to stave off their extinction. In recent years, the major record companies have taken to suing consumers for downloading music and pressuring online music vendors like iTunes to raise their prices; now they're going after Internet radio stations that allow listeners to experience new music. Instead of addressing the core issues with their product--overpricing and lack of quality--the record companies are trying to suck out every bit of revenue they can while refusing to innovate.
Sadly, the music industry refuses to acknowledge one of the basic truths that could actually help them: hearing good music increases the chance consumers will buy more music. In 2001, for example, the band Wilco took the unusual step of posting its new album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, on its website so fans could here the album in its entirety before it went on sale. YHF became the biggest seller in the band's history and Wilco has since repeated the strategy with A Ghost Is Born (which sold even more copies) and with Sky Blue Sky (due out May 15th). Not only does Pandora expose listeners to new music, it allows them to buy it; the website connects to iTunes and Amazon so if you hear a song you like you can buy it almost immediately.
The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC has ruled in favor of the major record companies; the recent decision to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio will almost surely crush every Internet radio station like Pandora. The new royalty rates are more than four times what satellite radio pays--not to mention that broadcast radio doesn't even pay royalties at all. The rate hike goes into effect May 15th and will be retroactive to--wait for it--January 1st, 2006.
Internet radio stations should pay artists for the songs that they play but those fees should be fair, unlike the punitive rates rendered by the Copyright Royalty Board. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, says "Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential. "
So what can be done? In response to these new and unfair fees, several Internet radio broadcasters have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. Even National Public Radio has joined the fight. SaveNetRadio has exhausted their options with the Copyright Royalty Board; the coalition is now asking for those who support Internet radio to send an e-mail to their congressional representatives.
If you like listening to music or radio online--heck, if you just want to take a stand for the freedom of consumers to choose--please take a minute to check out savenetradio.org and send an e-mail to your senators and representative.
http://www.savenetradio.org/
From SaveNetRadio.org:
The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger. The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC has more than tripled the royalty rates for webcasters and left unchanged they will kill Internet radio. These exorbitant rates go into effect on May 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). Without Congressional action the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. We need your help. Please take a moment to send a letter to your member of Congress to keep Net radio from being silenced.
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