I've been watching the internet radio royalty conversation unfold across numerous blogs and forums. Here's my response to a couple of the more common perceptions why the new royalty rates aren't such a big deal.
Some folks suggest that the answer is to only play non-RIAA bands. Well, as you listeners know, I play a ton of indie (non-RIAA) bands, but I expect that they will still collect royalties on every song I play.
Not every band on an indie label is non-RIAA. They can still sign up on the website to collect their royalties due. I expect that the RIAA will actually use the money they collect for artists that aren't signed up as an inducement to get them to sign up. Believe this. You can go to this link at Sound Exchange for recording artists, read the first line and you'll see this "I've checked out PLAYS and know I have performances in your system. Exactly how do I collect the royalties?" So that kinda takes the idea of getting around this by playing non-RIAA artists off the table, right?
Other people have commented that if internet radio dies, it's no big deal because there are other alternatives like podcasting or satellite radio. People need to be concerned because this isn't just an internet radio issue. This is about free speech and letting the little guy have a voice. They tried to do the same thing to political bloggers via campaign contribution laws. It's all about control. It's not just about radio on the internet either. Once the RIAA has established outlandish rates for internet radio music royalties, you can expect them to try to leverage that to perform the same shakedown on satellite radio, podcasters (and maybe even terrestrial radio). They're definitely trying to use the legal system to extend outdated business models. If you think it's going to stop at internet radio, you're probably going to be surprised.
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Listen to Musical Justice on Live365 or iTunes Radio (under Alt/Modern Rock)
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