The RIAA strikes again. This time, they announced the royalty rates for internet radios. If those numbers seem very small and reasonable for you, read the small print. It’s the price per performance. This means that every time one listener listens to one song, the internet station has to pay that amount.
The analysis is simple to do, and you can read it over at Rain and Techdirt. If this goes through (and why wouldn’t it - everything else that the RIAA wanted got through), it’s the death for the huge majority of Internet radios.
I’m a fan of many things, and Internet radios are one of them, because - unlike most traditional radios - you can choose a very narrowly defined genre and listen to music mostly without interruption. Needless to say, I’m angry and frustrated, and so are many other users. I’m not going to analyze RIAA’s decision, since everyone already did it. Instead, I’m going to list my favorite internet stations which I most probably won’t be able to listen to anymore when this ridiculous claim starts being enforced.
1. FlareSound - great chill-out & downtempo grooves by Netmusique. They make specific efforts not to play any music by artists in RIAA’s roster, but the RIAA still sent them a bill for 2003 (read the comments).
2. Big R Radio - there’s nothing more fun than 80ies metal. Maybe the RIAA should charge by headbangs, too.
3. The Edge Rocks - metalcore, nu-metal and rock. Great for exercising sessions.
4. Smooth Jazz - for all you jazz lovers who probably buy original CDs in huge numbers, but sometimes like to tune in to the radio to hear something new: well, RIAA has got a little surprise in stock for you.
5. Groove Salad - another one of those soothing chill out radios. What can I say, I love chill out music, it’s great for work. Oops, excuse me, it was great for work. SomaFM has 11 radio stations, many of them great.
6. Sleepbot - probably not for everyone, but I like it. Perfect music to fall asleep to.
7. Cygnus Radio - a great indie rock radio station.
8. Lounge Radio - Another great chill-out station - a bit too mainstream for my taste but great nevertheless. These guys just managed to get enough donations to make it through the year; I guess they’ll be really happy when they find out they’re gonna need much more money.
9. Sky.FM - among the many channels from the list, I mostly enjoy the World Music channel. Here’s a quick exercise: add up all the listeners of all channels, and multiply that with RIAA’s magical number: $0.0011. At the time of this writing, there are around 45.000 listeners, so the number I get is $49.5. And that’s the price this station SKY.FM will be paying RIAA for every song. Now count in the bandwidth. And then look at those AdSense ads on the page. Do you think they can cover the costs?
10. Club 977 - for those times when I actually want to remember when the 80ies pop sounded like.
*if this reads to you like an exercise in futility, it’s not. I really do listen to these stations, and by listing them here I’m trying to show that there really are great internet radios out there who will suffer because of RIAA’s greed. Also, if RIAA’s claims start being enforced and some of these stations are really forced out of business, I will able to revisit this page and say: I was right.
I dont know why they do this, we at cygnusradio.com
only play struggling indie artist that wouldnt be heard otherwise, they dont make money except for live gigs, that is if they have managed to stay afloat and can do live gigs
Thanks SO MUCH for posting this. Carol hit it right on the head. We at Cygnus only play INDIE because CORPORATE has already made their millions. Unfortunately, it’s CORPORATE (d1ck)heads that make the most of it. The MUSICIANS hardly get a dime even if they ARE signed.
What I’m finding is that MAJOR LABEL artists are quickly RE-finding their roots. They are UNsinging themselves and are returning to the INDIE side of life. That makes it great for those of us that love to compare “signed” to “unsigned” in certain situations.
Another thing that CORPORATE is doing, is creating “sub-labels”, some of which are categorized as “INDIE”. Some artists not willing to lose the label are switching to this “sub-label” setup.
As far as the RIAA is concerned, Please note American Lesley Jane’s incredible song: “The RIAA Sucks a Big Weenie”. Those of you that are fans of STR1KER’S Wolf Den know this song QUITE well….. That’s all I’m going to say on this matter.
To those of you that support your local music - WAY TO GO and THANK YOU, because without you, IIII could not do what I do professionally, and I wouldn’t be able to bring kickasskiller tuneage to your ears in my broadcasts.
Thank you so very much for listening to Cygnus Radio! We appreciate every single listener and our listeners are our friends.
We all do try to bring the absolute best of independent music to our listeners , and the DJS/ONAIRHOSTS there have years of listening and experience , and are passionately devoted to independent music. Each show is owned and programmed by the individual host and themusic they play is of their choosing . Frequently, people are shocked and amazed at the quality of music and the greatness of the songs you hear on Cygnus , and we like that too!
As of this moment; Cygnus Radio is not in danger of going off the air because of royalty payments. As an independent music station, we have agreements with the artists we play regarding royalty payments , and their benefit is the promotion they receive . However, this ruling if carried thru, will affect so many stations and even the makers of software for internet radio streaming, that it will indeed effect all of us , indie or not so I thank you again for your concern and for getting the information out there .
Warm Regards,
Love and HUGS
Swannie