They're at it Again!

From www.savenetradio.org:

"On March 2, 2007, The CRB approved royalty rates that will bury any small webcaster, and create a heavy burden even for big broadcasters like Yahoo, AOL Music and Pandora. How high will these rates be? Around 100% of a small webcasters revenue, give or take a few points, in most cases. What?! That's impossible to pay! Yep, it sure is..

How did this happen? The RIAA told the CRB thats what they wanted, and the CRB just gave it to them.

Your're probably thinking, hey that's awful, but who are the the RIAA and CRB?
RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is a lobbying group formed by the five largest record labels. They are embedded in Washington D.C. They make sure laws are written to keep them rich, no matter what. They made headlines a few years ago opening lawsuits against elderly people, single mothers and children for trading music online, even though some of them didn't even have computers. Check out the latest RIAA headlines.

The CRB (Copyright Royalty Board) is part of the US Copyright Office. The Board is charged with determining the royalty rates that would be determined by a willing buyer and a willing seller in a marketplace transaction. They decided to jack the rates beyond a broadcasters means despite decades of royalty rates being 1 - 2% of broadcaster revenue. Raise your right hand if you want to take away consumer choice, hurt working artists, damage small record labels and put small webcasters out of business. "

So won't you please help me along with my fellow avid listners of net radio keep these independent voices alive? I've met some great friends through internet radio chat rooms and forums. Net radio provides much needed competition to pathetic local broadcasting provided by companies like ClearChannels and to satellite radio (for those of us who can't afford it).

Please visit www.netradio.org and contact your Congressional representative as soon as possible. We can't let the RIAA and CRB continue to keep bullying independent artists, record companies and webcasters around.

Also check out the new logo I designed for my favorite net radio site: http://www.radiohidebound.com/sam/playing.php