Losers

I'm going to keep this post extremely short because I've noticed that my continuous posts concerning the current Royalties battles between the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA) and the various radio broadcasters puts most of my readers soundly to sleep.

But, for those of you who might be interested in the single most unfair abuse of power in Washington today let me simply refer you to today's issue of Radio and Internet News (RAIN)'s analysis of current events: CRB denies SX for more satellite money, but where's fairness for webcasters?

The bottom line? The Copyright Royalty Board (an agency of the US Government and an appointed board created by Congress) has granted an absolutely sweetheart deal to the monopoly of satellite radio, Sirius and XM Radio.

Without any competition and on the verge of merger, Sirius and XM are securely in the pocket of the RIAA, ignoring independent artists and following the hit making, payola laced, guidelines of the major record labels.

What does satellite radio bring to the table in return for the bargain basement royalty deal? Two companies, perhaps a half dozen program directors, no competition and no innovation.

Meanwhile Internet Radio which used to offer over 10,000 stations and 10,000 program directors and all the innovation and all the support for new, emerging and independent artists is forced by the same Copyright Royalty Board to pay royalty rates so high stations are now going off the air or into bankruptcy at an alarming rate.

Who are the "Losers" referred to in the title of today's post? The pubic, of course. Music lovers. Independent artists. Society in general. Exactly the people Congress is "supposed" to serve and protect.

Please read Paul Maloney's complete article in RAIN.