Internet Radio - Day of Silence

[jrmiller84]

So when I got in to work today, I did my regular routine. Got a drink, got some breakfast, and sat at my computer. After that I typically pair my bluetooth headphones and head over to Pandora.com to listen to some music while I program. To my surprise, I see that they have shut down for the day in observance of a "Day of Silence." This protest is aimed at curbing increased royalty fee's that are now bearing down on internet radio stations.

These fee's that the recording industry (read RIAA) are imposing will completely wipe out some radio stations, my personal favorite Pandora being one of them. According to the Washington Post, Pandora would have to pay seperate royalty fee's per user on their site whereas regular AM/FM radio stations only pay per artist. This would kill Pandora instantly. I'm not familiar with last.fm, but I would assume the same stands true there since it is similar. This also holds true for ALL internet radio stations, so many of the smaller ones would drop off the face of the internet. If the royalties are too steep for webcasters they're going to go offline, not pay up. They simply don't make the money that the royalties require. Apparently this has happened before back in 2002 and helped to lower the royalty fees, we'll see if it does anything again this time.

How many of you does this affect? What are your opinions?

Personally, I find out about every new artist that I listen to from Pandora since it personalizes everything to your tastes. I do believe in purchasing music to support the artist and internet radio helps me find artists whose music I want to purchase. If they kill my favorite internet radio sites, that means less sales, if any, from this would be consumer.

EDIT: Here's some reading material.

Washington Post Article

Another Washington Post Article

The Sound Exchange