End of Net Radio?

How many of you listen to radio via the internet? Those that know me, know that once November 1st comes, the Christmas music gets geared up. I always did that, even in the classroom. One tool that helped me do that was AccuRadio. On this site, an online set of radio stations, you could choose between approximately 10 different Christmas stations, all year long! When in the classroom, I could use the Classical Christmas station. Other times I wanted to use the Pop Christmas to hear my favorite singers belt out their renditions of Christmas songs. And once in awhile, I wanted the Rudolph station, where different artists did nothing but sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Granted, I did not use that station often!

Also on this site, stations for all music existed. Jazz, pop, rock, country, etc, etc. The purpose, or maybe the inferred purpose, was users would listen, hear a song they liked, and go out and buy the album or pick up the track on iTunes. The radio stations (Live 365, Pandora, FineTune, etc) could generate income via advertisements on their sites. Not a huge amount of revenue, but enough to keep things going for the last 4+ years.

In walks the RIAA, or the Music Royalty Board, or the Rich Executives Screwing Their Employees (RESTE). They want to take a larger chunk of the profits generated by these online stations. Well, as you can imagine, the profit line is pretty small, but those in power (or with the power of attorney) want even that small profit. Ignore the fact that if these stations close down, many will not hear music they might purchase. Ignore that this is great for the up and coming musicians. Ignore that this will only turn an already disgruntled public against you even more. Just generate more profit. More profit. More profit.

Well, in a quite amazing show of solidarity, many of the larger radio stations will shut down today for a Day of Silence in protest. They encourage you to contact your legislators to protest and encourage them to take action. Will it work? Possibly. Probably not, but if this goes through, many of these radio stations will close, ending independent music. Will it stop there? Once these corporations take over internet radio, sites like YouTube will fall under their crosshairs next. Click the links below and contact your legislators!!!

Live 365

Pandora

AccuRadio