Sonic Youth and the Feelies vs. A Giant Hole of Suck
Photo of the Day, November 23, 2009: Stark
Where Should You Eat? A Fast Food Flowchart
Sports Redux: One Goal, And One Goal Only
Sunday Happenings
Because Akon obviously isn't getting enough exposure these days, Congress threw their weight around and has all but boxed the little guy out of providing radio service to rabid fans. Ever since midi files essentially died and MP3s rose from the ashes, streaming audio has been a source for many to listen to and discover new bands via the Internet. Locally, Sooz has been creating and updating Exploit Boston Radio featuring all local bands, all the time. Bostonist first discovered the Casual Lean, the Snowleopards, and Bang Camaro while tuning in to the Internet stream. But today, along with a Boston Globe article on the subject, Sooz announced that there might not be a long future for Exploit Boston Radio if the current royalty hikes take hold. They'd force a minimum of $500 in fees for even the tiniest of stations, for big stations and streams of live radio the sky will be the limit for their required royalty payment.
The Globe did provide some facts and figures, and even a link to Exploit Boston! Unfortunately they got some of them wrong. Sooz programs a couple hundred bands in a catalog of over 524 songs on Exploit Boston Radio going out over the tubes with a variety of programs throughout the day. The station pulls a couple dozen listeners a day from all over the world (Boston rock is hawt). The idea of the station is simple, really, as explained on the site
Boston has an amazing music scene. So many bands got their start in Boston: Aerosmith, The Cars, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Letters to Cleo, Dropkick Murphy's, Aimee Mann, Aberdeen City, The Dresden Dolls and the list goes on and on. The station streams Boston bands 24 hours a day, every day. To listen up, go to our station page at Live365.com and tune in to Exploit Boston Radio with your MP3 player or the Live365 player.It's Sooz's love of the local bands and her desire to give them exposure to an audience that costs her $50/month in fees to Live365 for a 24 hour stream, a gig of storage, and fees paid (by Live365) to licensing organizations like BMI and ASCAP. The recent decision would tack on an additional $500 to her current cost. And none of this measures the hours of time listening to bands CDs and deciding what to put up on the Exploit Boston Radio stream. The passion of the individual could soon be lost as the Goliath major labels win another fight against the tiny David's of Internet radio. Live365 and Internet broadcasters are working to reverse the decision. We've got our fingers crossed that the trusty sling shot will come in the form of a successful challenge of the decision in the US Court of Appeals.
Image is of the now playing indicator for Exploit Boston Radio we got as this post was authored and we cried a small tear when the Cassavettes tune ended.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
The premise for the royalty decision is this statement from the CRB:
"It must be emphasized that, in reaching a determination, the Copyright Royalty Judges cannot guarantee a profitable business to every market entrant. Indeed, the normal free market processes typically weed out those entities that have poor business models or are inefficient. To allow inefficient market participants to continue to use as much music as they want and for as long a time period as they want without compensating copyright owners on the same basis as more efficient market participants trivializes the property rights of copyright owners. Furthermore, it would involve the Copyright Royalty Judges in making a policy decision rather than applying the willing buyer/willing seller standard of the Copyright Act."
Before this CRB atrocity, because of the freedom and the technology the internet offers, music lovers could legally afford to have their own internet radio stations and broadcast to over 50 million listeners every week. Now a group of three individuals in concert with a greedy entity, Sound Exchange have decided that these music lovers are no longer allowed to participate in what the CRB has deemed to be a dog-eat-dog, may only the strong survive, cut-throat business.
In my opinion, this is an infringement on freedom of expression and also puts the future development of new internet techonolgies into the hands of big business. The internet has given opportunity to individuals to create and improve their quality of life at a low cost with few impediments. This freedom and opportunity are in the process of being taken away. This is a part of a power-play to take the internet into the realm of big business. Just the fact that "net-neutrality" even has to be discussed shows what we are up against in the very near future.
This decision by the CRB must be attacked and exposed for what it is. So far the press has done a great job covering this mess thanks to all of the dynamic efforts of webcasters. Sound Exchange is gearing up for a big, big fight by hiring new council. I don't think a long term solution can be won in the courts. It's going to take congressional action for this climate to change.
Write your Congresspeople, please.
Bop City
bopcity.blogspot.com