Monday, July 09, 2007

Imagine If Every Independent Blog Were Censored

Imagine if only the big corporations were allowed to post their thoughts on line. If you were one of the very lucky few who where hired by The Washington Post or MSNBC your opinions might be on-line (edited by your bosses, of course). But if you were just a private citizen then you would be eliminated from the blogosphere.

That is EXACTLY the situation facing Internet Radio tonight. Today there are, worldwide, about 10,000 independent broadcasters. While you might be able to hear some of them next week if you live in Europe or Asia, they will be unavailable in the United States. And 95% of them will be gone period.

Think this can only happen in China? Or Iran? Think again. This is happening today, in the United States!

It doesn't matter if they broadcast classical music, political talk shows, or the ambient sounds of wind and surf, the RIAA wants them off the air and off the air they will be.

Now, even the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) can't pass a CENSORSHIP law (as much as they obviously want to), so they are eliminating all competition by demanding gigantic royalties exclusively of Internet Radio. Nobody else has to pay to play. Just the little guys.

They (the RIAA) claim they just want the poor performers to get a fair shake.
But the reality is that the performers will never see a dime. See Kurt Hanson's analysis in today's Radio and Internet News (RAIN).

Are you going to sit there and watch 10,000 voices be silenced? Or will you follow this link and call your Senators and Congress persons every day. EVERY DAY.
Save Net Radio

P.S. A tip 'o the Wizard's pointy cap to Senator John Kerry who just added his name to the sponsorship of the Internet Radio Equality Act. When your calling Senators, call John Kerry and thank him. I just did.

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3 comments:

Vigilante said...

Please identify the R.I.I.A.? Thanks.

Bob Keller said...

My apologies. This was really sloppy writing on my part.

The RIAA is The Recording Industry Association of America and they are the industry association for the four major record labels and a dozen or so minor labels.

They are a major lobbying force in Washington, along with their movie studio cousin, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

I've amended the article to include the full name of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and a link to their website.

http://www.riaa.com

Anonymous said...

Wizard the war is now in the UK the new rates set for internet radio here is 9 yes NINE times higher than the highest rate set for the USA by the RIAA check out my blog cheers mike c