SAVE INTERNET RADIO

I play (stream) Radio Dismuke at Blue Chip Café. The music is an important "ingredient" in the business concept. The "cool" music from the 1920's & 1930's has a soothing and relaxing impact on the atmosphere and our guests are giving positive feedback. Personally, I get in a cheerful mood by listening to this kind of music. Do you see any possible solution to this situation? How could we help Mr. Dismuke in his attempt to share his music collection with the listeners? How could you send a message to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in Washington, DC?

From Dismuke:

Your ability to enjoy the vintage 1920s and 1930s recordings on Radio Dismuke and other Internet radio stations along with your ability to enjoy the virtually unlimited variety of genres that can only be found on Internet radio is in grave jeopardy.

On March 2, the U.S. Copyright Office released the new royalty rates that all Internet radio stations are required to pay to SoundExchange in order to legally play copyright records and CDs. These royalties are paid on top of the royalties that stations already pay to other organizations such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. AM and FM radio stations, by the way, are exempt from having to pay SoundExchange royalties for their over-the-air broadcasts.

The new royalty rates, pushed through by lawyers for the RIAA (the trade organization for the major record labels), if allowed to stand, will immediately kill off the emerging Internet radio industry. For even the most profitable and commercially viable Internet radio stations, the cost of these new royalty rates would be in excess of 125% of ALL total revenue that such stations currently bring in. (Dismuke.org)

Please read the following posts:

Retroactive Bankruptcy by Dismuke.
Morally Bankrupt Regulators by Gus Van Horn.
Say Goodbye to Webcasting by Mark Cuban.
RIAA Pushes Through Internet Radio Royalty Rates Designed To Kill Webcasts by Mike of TechDirt. [Via InstaPundit.]

Posts that contain RIAA per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

UPDATE 03/18/07:

Sign the petition! [Editor's note: My signature is # 24124.]



UPDATE 04/17/07:

In the news: Internet Radio on Life Support Again - PC World.

The next step in order to save internet radio, is the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.