Tip: never buy music from these people

Some music artists are now coming out in defense of the indefensible new Internet radio royalty rate hikes coming down the road. We here at Open All Night have touched on the topic before, and it basically comes down to this: if you're for independent, affordable Internet radio, you're against these new royalties. Should they come to pass, they will make it unaffordable for the smaller Internet stations to continue legally broadcasting online.

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."

"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.

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.

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]