There’s a revolution happening, and you and I are right in the middle of it. It’s a struggle between freedom to listen to what we want and money. Right now, money is winning.
You see, earlier this month the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)—an arm of the Library of Congress—made a ruling. This august body of faceless bureaucrats decided that enough was enough; public radio webcasters who stream music on the internet must pay. And pay. And pay, more than an average of $100,000 a year to record companies and artists for the honor to play music we probably would never hear otherwise.
In plain English, what this means is that thousands of webcasters across the country simply will cease to exist; silencing our access to hear music, chat, news and information from stations like KSVR which sponsor’s Robin Carneen’s NAMAPAHH First People’s Radio. Because, quite simply, money talks; and in this case, carries a very big stick.
Web radio, whether it’s playing traditional Native music, classical, jazz, pop, or emerging musicians, has earned a loyal following of 50 million listeners. That’s right. FIFTY MILLION of us who’ve decided that the guffawing nimrods of rush hour radio ain’t giving us what we want. So, we’ve gone back to our roots of a free and open media. Open to the little guy who broadcasts from his basement to the Tulalip tribe in Washington; reaching you and me whether we’re sitting in our office in Ann Arbor, Albuquerque or Amsterdam. This is what freedom of expression is all about, folks.
But it is all about to end. Nearly all of the webcasters we now enjoy will not be able to afford these new extravagant fees. They will simply go away and we, their loyal listeners, will be the losers.
Ironically, this blather how it is only to make sure recording artists get their deserved piece of the money pie is a lot of bull-hockey. Traditional AM and FM broadcasters—the BIG GUYS—well, they don’t have to pay anything to the record companies and artists.
You read that right…nada, nothing, zippo.
It’s called a “quirk” in the law. Yep, that’s what it is, alright. Huge conglomerates like Viacom and Clear Channel—they don’t pay a freakin’ dime to performers and labels, but your favorite radio site will be charged outrageous fees for the privilege to play our favorite songs.
Example? Whereas a typical National Public Radio station is currently is charged $20,000 annually for broadcasting rights, it will now be charged $120,000 for the same right over the internet.
That’s quite a “quirk,” ain’t it? Funny how it favors the media empires at the expense of the mom-and-pop radio stations; and by the way—what about those poor o’ record companies? Where’s their outrage over this “quirk?”
I’ll tell you where it is. It’s firmly in their bank accounts. Because the issue here isn’t about making sure struggling recording artists get their due; the issue is about David knocking Goliath out of the ring. Revenues are being squeezed at traditional radio stations and cable music networks as more of us are opting out and moving over to the wild and woolly world of web media.
This is not good news for the big record companies who’ve forged tight deals with their cable and radio brethren. Viacom-owned MTV has seen the proverbial writing on the wall—they are scrambling to win back their teen market; just this past week they announced they taking on MySpace and YouTube. Times are a’changing and they want to make sure they a’change in their favor.
They are in bed together, folks. And, surprise, surprise…their weighty lobbying efforts in Washington are paying off. Big time.
The flickering bright spot in all this is National Public Radio (NPR), which on March 16th filed a petition for reconsideration with the Copyright Royalty Board panel. In a statement last week, NPR Vice President of Communications Andi Sporkin said, in part… “We are being required to pay an internet royalty fee that is vastly more expensive that what we pay for over-the-air use of music…This decision penalizes public radio stations for fulfilling their mandate, it penalizes emerging and non-mainstream musical artists who have always relied on public radio for visibility and ultimately, it penalizes the American public.”
It is a revolution.
And we are stuck right in the middle of the battle. A revolution of our right—as users of the web and airwaves—to listen to who and what we want to. It’s about to be silenced, as it likewise silences the thousands of little known performers who never get their songs played on mainstream radio.
So tell me, who is winning here? It’s time to get behind our keyboards and act.
Find out more about the ruling and what this means for listeners like us. Sign the petition and send an email to your Congressperson. www.savethestreams.org
Carole Levine
