Is Internet radio doomed?

RIAA: We want it all! Sorry about the scary title for this post, but an obscure body in Washington dropped something nasty into the punchbowl last week. Let’s hope it doesn’t mean the party’s over for all of us independent internet broadcasters. The party-poopers here are the members of the Copyright Royalty Board — the guys who determine how much internet broadcasters have to pay in artist, composer and performance royalties for the music we play. Up to last week, the rates were set low enough for all of us non-profit broadcasters to afford this hobby. Now they are going to hammer us with a huge increase in the rates. This could spell the end of thousands (yes, thousands!) of small internet broadcasters. That really sucks. But here’s what you can do: Sign a petition here and let congress know that you are very concerned about this issue. You can learn more about what this means by visiting Radio Paradise. They’ve done a very good job of explaining the issues and some things you can do about this latest outrage, courtesy of the RIAA and Corporate Broadcasting Greedheads.