Save internet radio!

[phattonez]

I thought that this would be over with their last push, but it seems that those 3x licensing fees that are going to internet radio are still going to be applied. Please contact your congressman and senators and tell them to not allow this to happen. There needs to be immediate action to save this, otherwise say goodbye to sites like pandora.com. I'll share you the email I got from Pandora today.

Hi, it's Tim one more time...
Disaster looms! Yesterday a federal court denied a plea to delay the massive increase in rates webcasters must pay the record labels. This means that, absent immediate Congressional action, the new ruinous royalty rates will be going into effect on Monday threatening the future of all internet radio.
This is a very dire situation and I'm writing to ask one more time for your support. The effort you've made over the past four months has been extraordinary and has forced the rapid introduction of the bill, but the committee process has been sluggish and we need to once again remind the representatives of the urgency of this issue. This is perhaps the most important phone call you can make for us. Please call your Congressional representatives in the House and the Senate and ask them to force immediate action on the Internet Radio Equality Act and bring the bill to a vote. It is critical that their phones begin ringing off the hook starting early in the morning. If it's busy, please try again later.
I'm sorry that we have to keep asking you for this - but it's our only recourse. We are no match for the legal and legislative strength of the RIAA and we need your help.
Thank you again.
Gratefully,
http://www.pandora.com/static/images/tim_signature.jpg
-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

So please, even if you don't listen to internet radio, fight for justice and don't allow the RIAA to force internet radio to pay 3x the licensing fee more that what terrestrial radio has to pay.

[Masamune]

Does this mean shoutcast too? :o

[phattonez]

It says that it's AOL Radio with XM, so maybe they have some kind of deal with XM that excludes them from this. I don't know.

EDIT: This is the website with all the information. http://www.savenetradio.org/

[vegeta1215]

I don't listen to much Internet Radio, but I emailed my senators to voice my opinion a few weeks ago.

[phattonez]

I'd suggest that if you've never tried it you check out Pandora. You give it the name of a song or band that you like, and it will find similar music. It's pretty nice. It's the main reason I want internet radio.

I don't understand how the JUSTICE system can allow the RIAA to force internet radio to pay more than terrestrial radio. It makes no sense at all.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Does this affect the free market in any way, or does it only apply to Internet radio stations with ties to the RIAA and the content it controls?

A harsh master asking for more money to license the media is nothing new and most likely nothing that can be stopped as long as the government sanctions the activity by law. However, giving a company control of the broadcast format itself is a crime against the free market and cannot be allowed to pass.

[AlexMax]

I've become a cynic about the whole issue. Seriously, this bill is a long shot, and if the RIAA thinks that it is in any danger of passing they can just slip a dollars to the appropriate senators and it'll never get passed.

Instead, try listening to music that's not under the RIAA's jurisdiction.

http://www.scenemusic.net/