The Electronic Freedom Foundation recently posted an interesting article about the recording industry’s attacks on Internet radio by trying to jack up royalties to the point where no independent broadcaster is likely to be able to afford them. Apparently, it’s going to cost a minimum of $500 a year to operate any kind of Internet radio station, even if you’re doing it as a hobby and not making any money from it.
Like we needed any more evidence that organizations like the RIAA are more concerned with consoldiating corporate control of music than with “protecting artists” as they claim… Internet radio stations are one of the main ways alternative and independent artists who don’t get played on mainstream radio can get exposure, and most of the people who air that kind of music aren’t doing it for a living, and can’t afford to pay that kind of money for the privilege of promoting these artists.
Thankfully, people are organizing to try and fight this… The EFF article above has info about it, and online radio service Live 365 also has some useful information posted.
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In other music-related news, I’m going to start a music reviews section in the Studio. It’s something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, and having just received a promo CD from a band called The Bewitched (who I discovered via Sepiachord) has pushed it more to the forefront of my mind.
So that will probably be the first CD I review there, but if any other artists happen to feel like sending review copies of anything my way, that would be cool. It should probably go without saying given the nature of this site, but I’ll be focussing on music that’s fairly off the beaten track in one way or another…
