The Sound of Silence June 26, 2007 – Posted in: Aberrant Normalcy
I love internet radio, and since the death of broadcast radio it has become the main way I and many others hear new music. I regularly listen to KCRW, WFUV (Forham University), WOXY (99.X), WFMU, WREK (Georgia Tech), WKCR, Pandora, Digitally Imported, and many other stations. I write while listening to them, I’ve had parties with their music in the background, and I’ve found some of my favorite bands all through them, For years I’ve enjoyed their totally free web-streaming service.
However, Congress has threatened this freedom by drastically increasing the fees radio stations must pay to stream songs. Many smaller internet radio stations will not be able to stay in business after this fee increase. It also adds many rules about what and how songs can be played online, such as the requirement that the DJ must name every artist and every song immediately after it is played.
To protest this turn of events, today internet radio stations are having a day of silence. They have gone offline. There is a new bill in Congress, the “Internet Radio Equality Act,” (Senate, S. 1353, and House of Representatives, H.R. 2060), which intends tol fix the problem and save internet radio from disappearing. How can you help? For a start, you can go to SaveNetRadio.org. Or you can contact your Congressperson and tell them to support this bill.
Please do your part to help keep internet radio alive!
1 Comment
Matthew Kressel June 26, 2007 - 12:22
I should also add that you cannot hear independent, eclectic music on the FM and AM radio stations. It simply does not exist because the radio industry has consolidated and only a few companies own most of the markets.
But internet radio, by its independent nature, has been playing awesome, eclectic, and new music for years. But if the royalty rates go up, only the largest companies will be able to stay alive. Thus again music lovers will suffer as the industry consolidates.