Monday, April 30, 2007

Save Net Radio

SaveNetRadio.org

You may have heard that Internet Radio is dying. To get you up to date, here are the facts:

The Facts:
  • IR webcasters currently pay a performance fee of 1.17 cents per listener-hour (or about .076 cents per song streamed to each listener) that terrestrial radio does not pay and satellite radio pays at a much lower rate
  • Artists on terrestrial radio get no royalty payments at all; composers and publishers are paid through ASCAP or BMI publishing agencies
  • The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is the agency charged by Congress with overseeing royalty disputes
  • The CRB proposed to raise the royalty rates for internet webcasters based on the recommendations of Sound Exchange, a non-profit set up by record labels and musician unions
  • The ruling will increase fees to .08 cents per song per listener, with incremental increases over the next 5 years until the fee reaches .19 cents per song per listener
  • The increases are 30 to 300% of what stations currently pay and makes internet radio economically impossible for almost all internet radio stations
  • The proposed royalty hikes are to begin payment May 15th and the fees are retroactive to January 2006
  • The CRB denied a stay and rehearing
  • The Internet Radio Equality Act is a recently introduced bipartisan act that would make the fees in line with what satellite radio pays: 7.5% of revenues
The Sides:
  • Supporters of the proposed royalty rate hike argue that the music industry needs to shift it's focus in the new digital age and this is one way for artists to collect money they are rightfully owed (and not getting from CD sales).
  • Opponents, which include many artists, believe the rates are far too high and will kill off most internet radio stations. The promotion and services provided by Internet radio are a wonderful tool for artists and listeners and these misguided, increased rates will kill the medium entirely.

For further reading:

"Radio's Tangled Web" (via Newsweek)

"The End of Internet Radio?" including an interview with Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, which is leading the fight against this ruling. (via Alternet)

"Congress to rescue the Internet radio star" (via CNNMoney.com)

The official (115 page) proceedings for the Determination of Rates and Terms by the CRB (via CRB)


SaveNetRadio.Org

Can anyone tell me about the symbolism of this slice of bread? I don't get it.
SaveNetRadio.org

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Three A Days

1 Podcast + 1 Internet Radio Station + 1 Music Blog = A Musical Work-Out
  • Podcast: KEXP Song of the Day
    • This podcast is a great way to start the day, like a shot of espresso, only it's indie music from a wonderful college station in Seattle. As the title hints, this podcast offers one song a day from independent artists--sometimes it's a live in-studio performance, sometimes a better known artist's single and sometimes a new band selected by the DJs at this nationally renowned University of Washington station. The range of artists includes The Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, !!!, Junior Boys, Beirut, and Okkerville River. This podcast is a great way to get introduced to new bands in a very unobtrusive way: it's one song, with no DJ intro and if you don't like it, you can just skip to the next or turn it off. If you do like, it, you have one free song now!
  • Internet Radio: Live365 Internet Radio
    • Live365 is the largest network of free internet radio stations. With a user-friendly search engine, forums, recommendations, customization options, and the ability to DJ your own IR station, Radio 365 is like iTunes for Internet Radio.
  • Music Blog: Fluxblog
    • Matthew Perpetua's Fluxblog was a pioneer in the mp3 blog world, beginning in 2002 as one of the firsts. Still a great source for mp3s, this blog posts 3 or 4 a day with brief reviews of the tracks, as well as concert reviews and music industry updates. Great diversity if you have the patience to sift through and find what you want. Some recent posts include Ellen Allien, Spoon, Hillary Duff and Jarvis Cocker songs. For a laugh, here is the Wiki entry referring to Fluxblog as a burrito, illustrating the wonders of user-generated content and editing.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Poll of the Day: Internet Radio

Introductions: Internet Radio

Definition: "Internet Radio: (aka e-Radio) is an audio broadcasting service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means but is delivered over the World Wide Web. The term "e-Radio" suggests a streaming media that presents listeners with a continuous stream of audio to which they have no control much like traditional broadcast media." (via Wiki)

Timeline:

  • 1994: Internet Talk Radio was introduced
  • 1994: the Voice of America became the first broadcast news organization to offer continuously updated programming on the Internet
  • 1995: Radio HK, broadcasting independent music, became the first full-time, Internet-only radio station
  • 1995: Netradio (Net.radio, NetRadio, NetRadio Network), founded in 1994, became the first all internet radio network. It was also the first Internet Radio network to receive an experimental license from ASCAP, which later became a standard license for all online radio stations.
  • 1996: NetRadio offered the first weekly live internet only concert series.
  • 1999: Scour.com released the Mycaster software tool and website, allowing users to operate their own internet radio stations.
  • 2004: SuprNova, one of the most popular torrent sites, partnered with an amateur internet radio group and formed SuprNova Radio.
IR vs. traditional radio:
  • Similarities: In many cases, IR provides the exact same programing at the same time as their terrestrial counterparts, simply streamed through the internet rather than broadcast on the airwaves. There can be commercials, annoying DJs, and the same 10 songs played all the time. You can't skip through commercials or pick what you want to hear on IR, just like on terrestrial radio. Like traditional radio, it is free (if you don't consider the cost of internet and computer access).
  • Differences: Unlike traditional terrestrial radio, IR offers a huge selection of stations because the spectrum is physically unlimited and accessible anywhere, as long as you have access to a computer. The need for a computer (right now--internet radio in the car is supposedly in the works) to hear IR means there is both a financial and logistical barrier to access. You can't listen to IR in the car or on the go, as of now, and you have to be near a computer--not the most convenient or possible for everyone. IR also requires listeners to actively seek out the stations they want to hear on the internet, while traditional radio really only requires you turn it on and maybe press the seek button. There is a different level of agency involved in finding internet radio.
Examples: See Sidebar

Pros:
  • Free!
  • Accessible anywhere in the world if you have access to computers
  • Can increase listenership of local stations and niche stations through access to broader audiences
  • Great for expats and people with interests not served by traditional radio
  • Sound quality: no interference or static
  • Diversity of stations and programing
  • No physical limits to # of stations
  • No copyright issues because it is a stream rather than a download
Cons:
  • Currently limited to those people with access to a computer
  • Streams of commercial stations will have the same problems as those stations (commercials, annoying DJs, bad and repetitive music selection)
  • No control over content
  • You have to seek out the station you want to hear
  • Proposed royalty rate hike could mean demise of Internet Radio
Next Up: Is Internet Radio About to Die?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The Beginning of the End?


The Internet has changed radio (just like everything else) for good. It hasn’t killed it—yet, but blogs, Internet radio, and podcasts have already added many very important aspects to the traditional terrestrial landscape of radio. They are dramatically changing the way we listen and how content is produced and distributed. They are reinventing the structure of radio while building on historical precedents in the field. Internet radio, podcasts and blogs are leading the way to the future of music, news, entertainment and general information distribution. These developments change who creates media and who consumes it. Large corporations like Clear Channel are no longer the only gatekeepers of the airwaves—in fact, the airwaves themselves include a completely different spectrum now because of the internet. Everyone is able to have a voice without having access to a radio station. While these developments may never supplant traditional radio completely, they are certainly adding important alternatives and causing ripples through the entire radio industry. This will be a blog about these exciting changes and where radio might go from here.