Posted on 05/28/2015 3:20:39 PM PDT by Kaslin
It’s the Buggles and 1979 all over again. Except this time it’s not video killing the radio star, it’s the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) threatening to kill Internet radio.
“I heard you on the wireless back in fifty two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you
If I was young it didn't stop you coming through”
Why does it matter? Well, as my teenage daughters made clear to me over the holiday weekend, their favorite Internet radio platform is with them all the time, wherever they go, on whatever device. Don’t mess with their music.
After church this past Sunday, my wife and I decided to take our family out to brunch. It was a beautiful afternoon with a warm breeze and amazing blue skies. We sat outside around the table talking about Memorial Day and how our blessings and freedoms have been secured at a high cost. We discussed our picks for the most patriotic movies—Saving Private Ryan, Taking Chance, Glory, The Patriot—and, being that it was Memorial Day, we chatted about Washington’s BIG 100.3’s top 500 classic rock songs of all time (Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven or Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody). It was interesting because my teenagers were unfamiliar with the annual FM radio tradition. You see, my kids don’t listen to 20th Century radio; they listen to the Internet, mostly Pandora.
We’re a political family so, of course, I asked them some questions like “how does Pandora make a profit?” and “What if Pandora disappeared?” The latter query genuinely disturbed them. “What do you mean … why wouldn’t Pandora always be there!?” This is where I bored them with high-minded talk about market-based standards for royalty rates, the Copyright Royalty Board, and how the bureaucratization of pricing decisions threatens the future of Internet radio. I got their attention back by simply explaining that a panel of three unelected, government officials could destroy Pandora, and all Internet Radio platforms.
As with my teenagers, more Americans are tuning into Pandora, iHeartRadio, Apple iTunes Radio, Rdio, Spotify, and others to listen to their favorite songs. Eighty percent of the public is listening on mobile devices. It seems like there’s some new streaming music service being introduced all the time. Pandora was one of the first a decade ago. Rdio launched in 2010, and Spotify in 2011. So it follows that royalty rates for Internet radio is becoming a heated political issue. The more popular something is the more likely the government will create some way of messing it up. With Internet radio, its future is in the hands of the aforementioned CRB, a three-judge panel housed at the Library of Congress. These unelected, government administrators will determine the fees for music streaming for the next five years.
By year’s end, the CRB will make its ruling on the rate for each song played by music streaming companies. If they set the rates high above what the market requires for stability and growth, the CRB could obliterate years of investment and innovation. Such high rates would kill Internet radio for consumers. On the other hand, if the CRB agrees to rates based on the market principle of what’s best for both vendors and consumers, the music industry will keep an important revenue stream while best serving music patrons. What’s more, with such an appropriate rate, the marketplace will continue to grow and innovate. Everybody wins.
As I told my kids, a pro-market rate is good for both consumers and artists. A rate set exceedingly high would mean that CRB killed the radio star.
Since music is now so affordable to make, there are many good artists that have no part of the old guard or their conventions. And although that has resulted in a lot of crap, there is great stuff to be found if you dig for it.
These ‘Boards’ and such are on borrowed time.
Good.
Destroy the garbage culture.
“Since music is now so affordable to make, there are many good artists that have no part of the old guard or their conventions. And although that has resulted in a lot of crap, there is great stuff to be found if you dig for it.”
Yes m
A streaming sites just perpetuate the old guard garbage culture by streaming that crud.
I think you misunderstood my post.
I think you don’t understand it.
Whats not to understand? Since i do music as a hobby I can tell you that there are thousands of artists that are not affiliated with any traditional music publishing, copyright holder org/record company and they are selling and giving away tens of millions of songs outside those groups.
Nowhere did I say old music was garbage.
The numbers do however show that the traditional industry pillars are all bleeding talent, money and marketshare. Now tell me again what you ‘feel’ I don’t understand?
“Whats not to understand? Since i do music as a hobby I can tell you that there are thousands of artists that are not affiliated with any traditional music publishing, copyright holder org/record company and they are selling and giving away tens of millions of songs outside those groups.”
Yes.
It is great.
What I am saying is that big streaming sites will still exclude them and provide a vehicle to again marginalize these non-affiliated artists.
I agree there. The thing is, they aren’t reliant on them anyway.
Just as an example: I like what they call “New Retro” Which is a modern take on 80s music. It’s well out of the mainstream and would be considered niche by about anyone. Definitely not top 40 bound anytime soon. I use it as an example but there are many ‘scenes’ with their own fans as big or bigger.
When you look at the Youtube numbers, they regularly pull down tens of thousands of views each. A couple of the bigger acts have combined song views in the millions. And thats just youtube. They also sell via bandcamp and indy labels. Many do limited releases on Vinyl. They also show up on a lot of video game soundtracks.
In all, they don’t rely on or even pursue traditional methods and even the new streaming. A few do, which is fine, but most don’t. End result being they retain total control and still get their stuff out there. Some even turn a profit.
It false then and its false now.
Right now I'm streaming Sirius/XM in my home stereo system from the Internet. It's been a while since I actually listened to an FM radio station.
I spent decades building a massive music library but I hardly bother with it now. I've got over 100 Sirius/XM stations to choose from in just any any genre I'm in the mood for (and you can customize even those further). I can stream Pandora just by typing in any song or artist I feel like hearing.
Regardless of any kind of ruling by some government or other agency, I don't think this genie can be put back into a bottle.
The copyright nazis are out of control.
From a friend:
Smartphones already have an FM receiver in them, but the carriers won’t activate them, as they can make more money on data plans.
See:
http://freeradioonmyphone.org/
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