Columns Can you hear me now?

http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2007/04/21/can_you_hear_me_now/1.html

 

Can't they all just move to Canada or somewhere else out of the RIAA's grasp?

 

im glad i dont listen to anyting other than electronic music... most of which are not in the riaa reach anyways

 

I'm afraid that I haven't listened to radio on purpose in years, i.e. only stuff which I cannot control (shops).

Mainly because I get annoyed by the ads and people talking, I want music and not chat.

 

Thank goodness for the bbc.
( You know your old when you listen to bbc radio 2 and drive 406!)

 

such a shame. the RIAA are complete idiots. I hope www.di.fm survives in its current form

Fair enough, going after people who download illegally, thats fine if they want to do that, as long as they do it properly. But instead of screwing with downloaders, they are now screwing with legitimate consumers who legally listen to internet radio.

These are the people who havnt broken any laws, pay royalty fees by the law. Count every listener. Nothing what they do is illegal. but the RIAA just cant help themselves but to try and get it shut down.

Its pathetic. Why cant these students who go round shooting other students actually go into RIAA buildings and do those t**ts instead.

 

I was wondering the same, afterall RIAA and the like only applies in the US with US artists... no?

 

Something I wondered for a while was, why would the RIAA do this? I know I know, they're utter ****wits and are generally just happy to shut people down, but what in this case would be their logic. A comment on Digg provided the answer for me and I'll paraphrase it:

The RIAA aren't yet ready to do internet radio. That's just not where they're at yet. Internet radio grew far faster than they had anticipated, and it was actually heading to become an area of music that wasn't totaly owned, controlled, and monopolised by them. Sure, it was their music, but neither they nor any of the Big Four were calling the shots.

So they did the only thing that would seem logical to the RIAA. Destroy the current industry and make it impossible to survive in, until that is, the Big Four and the RIAA are ready to get into Internet radio properly, at which time they'll go into an empty market with almost no competition and can do every single thing on their terms. That's what they like. Their market, their terms, their media, their profits.

This was a business move to destroy an industry that wasn't theirs in order that they make money from it in the future if they choose to.

Not only have they destroyed something they don't tend to replace with a better service, but they've destroyed something they might not even bother replacing at all.

Boycott the RIAA folks.

 

I get my radio by satellite, which has many of the same advantages as internet radio, though with a cost. I pay about $13 a month for the subscription, but I find it worth it because otherwise I can't get the shows I like out here in the sticks.

Agreed, the RIAA needs to die.

 

I never realised a lot of that. Thanks RIAA for stagnating the radio stations. No wonder they're all crap.

 

What I've never understood is, why would I buy a cd if the songs on it are being played on every station every twenty minutes? What a waste of money, why not just turn on the free radio? Not that I listen to radio for a long time now. There's not much death metal on radio these days. hehe.

 

Brilliant article.

personally I listen to Trance/Dance/Techo so buying CD's is a moot point as most of the artists are international and usually have free downloads for their stuff (most of their money is made on the DJ circuit) the only radio station I actually listen to is an internet radio station from sweden which does only that type of music.

for humor's sake if you're ever in the states, try going into a bestbuy and asking the music area guy for Trance CDs. (If they get it right I'll eat my underwear)

 

This is ridiculous, they're attacking a market because they didn't think of it themselves in the first place.
I just hope it doesn't affect last.fm.

 

It shouldn't for now, Last.Fm are UK based. However given that US copyright law generally seems to get roughly copied over in the UK after a short time lapse, I expect that internet radio will be murdered here in a few years at most too.

 

This article got me started to listen to web radio finally.

THANK YOU for this link. Hit the spot, already love it!

 

Too late tbh, thanks to the RIAA, we could soon see the death of all decent, ad-free (or thereabouts) internet radio.

The guy from digg is exactly right tbh, the RIAA aren't in control of internet radio, and need to do something about it.

Great article and some fascinating detail which I've never heard before about US FM radio.

 

is this a worldwide thing or only limited to the USA?

 

USA limited. There are no world wide laws.

 

Yes but are they aware of that?

 

That's what i've always thought was rather perverse about the whole industry. Having the same songs rammed down my throat every five minutes doesn't make me want to buy a record, in fact quite the opposite. I buy if i like, it's really that simple.

My mate runs an online metal radio station, well it's more of a weekly hour long podcast. He gets several tens of thousands of uniques every month so theoretically there's almost enough for him to make some decent advertising revenue. However, the way podcast royalties work would mean he'd have to pay thousands of pounds a year which would be way more than he'd make. So, for the time being he has to work on a word-of-mouth arrangement with the records companies he deals with that he makes no money so he won't give any money. Seems to me that both of them lose out on that arrangement...

Anyway, point being. Boo ya sucks!