Web Radio

"The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, a body appointed by the U.S. Copyright Office, ruled on Feb. 20 that under the DMCA, radio stations must pay a fraction of a cent per song, per listener, for every song they stream. Under the CARP ruling, Internet-only radio stations would pay a royalty fee of 14/100 of a cent per song, per listener, retroactively through October 1998. Webcasters are up in arms - while they are not opposed to the principle of royalty fees, they say the rate structure is far out of balance to the economics of these tiny, often one-person operations."

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/26/web_radio/

WebRadio broadcasts are like air radio broadcasts - a lossy format.

I like WebRadio almost as much as I like PairProgramming.

If they try to ruin this industry in its infancy, here's what I will do:

I will configure my notebook to continuously download files from newsgroups like news:alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.indie. NNTP cannot be punitively regulated (which is the way God intended). Then I will configure my MP3 player to continuously rotate them.

MP3s on these newsgroups are freshly ripped and therefore at full CompactDisk? quality.

So as a result of the UnitedStates government once again repressing the symptom instead of fixing the real problem (which is artists don't have equity in their works), I will switch from listening to reduced-quality music to listening to full-quality music for free.

-- PhlIp

Another source of "legal" and "free" music will be found in all places, Your Local Library. Check out the kinds and quantities of "Cd Quality" music which you can take home and listen to for the price (usually free) of a Library Card. The "government" can help you in this quest.

More info:http://www.saveinternetradio.com

Well, the RIAA lost the first battle last month (5-2002) but yesterday (6-21-2) they won. The fees are too high, putting out one of the best providers http://www.somafm.com and many more to come. . .

The idea of sound via the web is a concept that is here to stay, and whether or not Associations and Companies and Special Interests like it or not, good ideas will not be squelched. Innovation and progress will continue and if the RIAA and others think the internet is where they will pick up some more big bucks, they need to think again. If I were in their shoes, I would think of the internet as a pool of people to which I can advertise and spread samples of my product, which they will buy. There is a great deal of difference between listening to Cds and owning Cds. The second is where the money is. You do not coerce ownership, you induce it. Secondly, the covenience of the new format (Mp3) in that it makes more sound per square inch of Cd or Chips, and should be used as an instrument of widening audiences and making sound ownership less expensive and more profitable. The market possibilites are huge. The business models that recognize these and other obvious strengths and possibilities will be the survivors. The ones who cling to the old forms and technologies will go the way of the 45s and the 8 track tapes, which you can find in Antique Stores along with the devices which play them.