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There is some speculation in the internet broadcast community that because SoundExchange (the collection division of the Recording Industry Association of America or RIAA) failed to win their battle over peer to peer download websites that they set their sites on internet broadcasters in retaliation. Perhaps they want to recoop what they perceive as losses from the internet, and internet radio is chosen target. It would seem that removing a majority of internet stations due to unaffordable rates would in return promote this type of activity, as those listeners will then turn to other methods to listen to their preferred music. Many, if not most, internet radio stations run special programming to prevent the stealing and recording of their broadcasts. Even so, during the downloads battle many major label artists spoke out. Here are a few.
Willie Nelson: The message for corporate labels is the old saying of, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them.’ They should find the artists who are doing well, selling (a respectable amount of records). They should pay more attention to smaller artists instead of dropping the ones who don’t sell a million. Find the ones willing to work and get behind them.”
Adam Duritz (Counting Crows): "We work in a capitalist system where everybody gets what they can. There is probably a fairer way to do the money than is being done by labels. They waste an incredible amount of money, and then they rip everyone else off.”
Roy Haynes (Charlie Parker Band): “People need to stop being so damn greedy.”
Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls): “The fact so many stations are owned by a handful of companies is really bad for everybody. …We wouldn’t be able to launch today if we tried to break out now.”
Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay): “Record companies have to give up something. They need to understand that to truly be a useful part of the process of bringing music and art to the broader community, they have to give up the tight grasp they have on it. They are keeping art at bay.
Jon Fishman (Phish and Pork Tornado): “Record companies have never been looking out for the artist's interests. Record companies are looking out for record company interests. Let’s not be fooled. They are defending their own money. If that artist is not taking care of them the way they want, they’ll get rid of that artist anyway.”
Most of those comments would still hold true in the current fight for internet radio rates. Once again the artists both new and old are being deprived of an outlet for their music, effectively preventing new artists from getting their music heard internationally, and existing artists generating sales. The internet radio community agrees that royalties should be paid, and have done so diligently. The current rates would however force the majority of U.S. stations offline. Is it an aftermath of the download battle? Who knows. Is it RIAA attempting to take control of internet broadcasting so it can once again decide who gets played? I do not know the true answers. I personally feel it's a lose-lose-lose situation for everyone except the RIAA. Artists, listeners (consumers) and internet radio all have a stake in the outcome.
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