A variety of musicians have spoken out in favor of the controversial, proposed higher royalty rates for Internet radio proposed by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). Drummer Jody Stephens (Big Star, Golden Smog) said in a statement, "If music adds commercial value to someone's site, then there is a monetary value due the writers and recording artists. The decision by the Copyright Royalty Board helps us afford to continue to add this value of music."So, Big Star, Michelle Shocked, and Twisted Sister are the only musicians FMQB could scrounge up that were in favor of these new rules. As such, they should be punished -- with our wallets. That punishment can include simply not purchasing their records, or, as I like to do, hunting down the individual artists and whaling on them with a purse like a tough little old granny that just left her weekly karate lesson.
"A lot of internet users think of music as a product created and generated by major labels with corporate megadollars and so think nothing of taking or paying very little to use this music," added singer Michelle Shocked. "But the evidence shows that a large majority of music is now created by independent artists with very small margins trying earn a living and it's in that context that the recent decision to raise the internet broadcasting rates are seen as an encouragement to creativity and independence."
Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister added, "With the shrinking royalties from the usual sources, the ever expanding digital universe is apparently becoming the future and, before our very eyes, it is here now. I wholeheartedly support all organizations that endeavor to collect and account to all the hard working artists whose material is exploited. I applaud these new royalty increases as they scratch the surface of the new world order."
Last week, following criticisms and petitions from NPR and other broadcasters, the CRB agreed to grant motions for a possible rehearing over the royalty rates.
Also, this seems like the perfect opportunity to pimp this cool site I found that lets you search for RIAA-safe artists: RIAA Radar.com
Link via [FMQB]
4 comments:
Thank you so much for posting this. We have enough to deal with than to heap comments on top of the pile that are from musicians that are clearly ignorant of the true royalty issue.
We have an extremely popular 80’s Rock channel at GotRadio.com.
Newsflash Mr. French – GotRadio played 3 of your songs this month, totaling over 7,000 plays with an average listener vote of 4.5 out of a possible 5.00 (excellent rating).
Newsflash Mr. French – GotRadio paid their royalties IN FULL last year, but the Sound Exchange wants more blood. Newsflash Mr. French – I doubt if you’ll EVER see a cent from the royalties that we paid Sound Exchange and it will end up straight in the pockets of the large labels. Newsflash Mr. French – say goodbye to your airplay at GotRadio! Further I’m sure Twisted Sister is getting only limited if ANY radio airplay in terrestrial radio land (hence his "shrinking royalties from the usual sources.”), so this is just another classic case of biting the hand that feeds you. As far as Big Star or Michelle Shocked, we don’t currently have either of them in rotation, and frankly, if we survive this ridiculous royalty attack – never will
I just pulled all Twisted Sister songs from our playlists on 80s Metal FM and our other 80s Channels. Like Vstarr said..its not like we don't have enough stress right now without the artists we support and PAY legally getting on the RIAA bandwagon.
Here's the deal to the Artists we play and support. We have paid our royalties through Loudcity.net every month on time and legally. So not only have we paid you for playing your music, we have also helped you by spinning your songs on our stations so people can remember them and purchase them again, and again. If you think there is NO value in this just send us an email info@bigrradio.com and we will pull you from our playlist too.
It's pretty sad to see all this going on, what the artist needs to understand is WE HAVE SUPPORTED YOU while terrestrial radio HAS NOT! Not until they started streaming anyway.
Remember when you could get NO airplay before you were signed? How frustrating that was? We take the risk and play independent music SIDE by SIDE with the signed music. How can this be bad? How can potentially having 60 million listeners hear your music not have "promotional value" like Sound Exchange/RIAA is suggesting? Bottom line is IT Does have big value, just check your online digital sales!
Please remember this...listeners are going to Internet Radio for a reason..hmmm I wonder why and I wonder who might be concerned that 60 million Americans are listening to Internet Radio everyday?????hmmm.....;-)
thanks for the feedback, guys. it's a relief to see that there are other people out there that are as outraged about this as I am.
I'd be interested to find out if any of these quotes were taken out of context. The lack of relevant musicians that chose to speak on this topic is a sign it's not heavily supported.
It's surprising first that the RIAA feels it speaks for the entire music industry and second that they feel like they are owed something.
The laws being created surrounding intellectual property are really scary. Someday I would like to map on these new laws onto The Bush Administration's State of Exception policy.
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