Save Internet Radio
If you are aware of this issue already, go here http://xpn.org/petition/ and sign the petition. If you want to know more, read on…
Streaming Internet radio is one of the most artistically beneficial innovations of the last decade and the United States Government (that’s yours and mine) has decided to all but shut the practice down completely. How? By allowing the U.S. Board of Copyrights and Royalties to raise the rates these streaming stations must pay. Before this hike, Internet radio stations (which range from monoliths such as AOL and Yahoo to college students in a dorm room with a laptop annd stack of CDs) had to pay 12% of their proceeds to the government. To put this in perspective, satellite radio (XM and Sirius) pay 7% and terrestrial radio (you know, the steaming pile of worthless, banal, commercial-ridden crap you get when you dial into that box in your car’s dashboard) pays NOTHING. As though this weren’t injustice enough, the government has decided to raise the rates for I-radio even more, making it thoroughly cost prohibitive for a large majority of these stations to function. That means if you’re a fan of Pandora, for example, you’re going to be very sad very soon. Better get used to hearing, “Hey this is Slick Rick Rocky and his Morning Buzz Babes bringing you the greatest in the 80s, 90s and today. Hey, how ’bout a little Bachman Turner Overdrive to get you goin’ this fine Friday morning! B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t s-s-s-seen nothin’ yet! YOW!”
All who wish to be forced to live in that world again, raise your digital hands…right. Thought so.
This is not only a matter of artistic democracy. This is a revolution my friends, a call to tell this government of ours, “No, we will not let you herd us like intellectual sheep into your same tired, worn-out stables.” Internet radio is a wonderful medium, one that has benefited artists and listeners in ways previously unfathomable, and it is here to stay!
So, if any of this rings true, follow the above link to XPN’s website (whose online streaming radio, by the way, would come under the axe of this draconian measure if things don’t change) and sign the petition to save Internet radio. It takes less than a minute.
“Lights out. Gorilla radio!”
Please pass this LINK TO PETITION on to anyone you think may want to take up arms.
