A very, very sad day...

[rowangolightly]

Big business and the Government win another one.

I just got this email from RenGeek regarding RenRadio;


Renradio has been broadcasting since 1999. I've fought and worked hard to keep it on the net and free. I have made many compromises as big business has tried to push the small web casters out of business and control what you listen to just like terrestrial radio and satellite radio. I never wanted to compete with them I just wanted to listen to the music I like and share it with the few others that like it too. Over the years Renradio went from something I set up to play with and listen to at work to peak at 3 stream station with over a thousand listeners. I was voted as one of the best Celtic and Folk station on Yahoo. I don't play Pop music or anything mainstream but the RIAA and big record labels still wanted (more) money. I joined Live365 the 1st time the RIAA raised the rates so I could keep playing even though I had to let them insert commercials and take a vow of poverty and not make any money off the station. Not that I ever intended to. It was a hobby, it was for fun.
I made so many new friends, met so many new artist. I gained a bit of notoriety and fame within our community as "Rengeek the owner of Renradio". It got me free beers and plenty of thanks and compliments. And to my amazement people donated money and their talents to keep this thing going. Truthfully this is what has kept me going when my life took a turn for the worse. I don't want it to go away.
But the apathy and willingness for this country, and it's government, to let big business do what they want no matter who's freedom it steps on or what they take in the name of money leaves me with little choice. I can not justify the hundreds of dollars they will demand or the hundreds of dollars they want retroactively to continue this station. I frankly don't have the money or the energy to continue to fight alone. I'm tired, so very tired of the fight.
We all like a story such as David and Goliath, but in the end we all know it is just a fable.

From Rain:

The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has announced its decision on Internet radio royalty rates, rejecting all of the arguments made by Webcasters and instead adopting the "per play" rate proposal put forth by SoundExchange(a digital music fee collection body created by the RIAA).

RAIN has learned the rates that the Board has decided on, effective retroactively through the beginning of 2006. They are as follows:

2006 $.0008 per performance

2007 $.0011 per performance

2008 $.0014 per performance

2009 $.0018 per performance

2010 $.0019 per performance



A "performance" is defined as the streaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has an average audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 "performances" for each song it plays.


The minimum fee is $500 per channel per year. There is no clear definition of what a 'channel' is for services that make up individualized playlists for listeners.


For noncommercial webcasters, the fee will be $500 per channel, for up to 159,140 ATH (aggregate tuning hours) per month. They would pay the commercial rate for all transmissions above that number.


Participants are granted a 15 day period wherein they have the opportunity to ask the CRB for a re-hearing.


Within 60 days of the final determination, the decision is supposed to be published in the Federal Register, along with any technical corrections that the Board may wish to make.


Within 30 days of publication in the Federal Register, it can be appealed (but only by the participants) to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.
Rengeek Dee of Jay at Renradio.com

Comments

[tarsa.livejournal.com]

Fucking bastards.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's about it.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

That's the most unheard of thing I ever heard of!

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Isn't it though.

[coeurdechoeur.livejournal.com]

I don't understand who the retroactive royalties are supposed to be paid to. The musicians on Renradio were featured voluntarily. There should not be any copyright infringement. None of this is making any sense.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Doesn't matter to them. The assumption they're working under is that there *is* copyright infringement, so rather than try to find a way to find out whether there is or not, they'll just set up a blanket fee. And who's going to receive the fee? Certainly not those of us who've been featured on RenRadio (or Sweetwater Folk, or the myriad of other Live365 and other streaming stations). Oh, no - after keeping their cut (which will be large), they'll apportion the rest to what they believe the mix of play is - meaning the modern popsters and rapsters will get the largest percentage of the pittance that remains.

Bottom line, it's the music industry trying to make as much as it can while trying to "prove" that copyright infringements and piracy are the cause of their diminished returns, as opposed to the fact that most of what they're producing as the latest thing is just so much crap...

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Not even generic "big business" this time, but more specifically the so-called "music industry" that's out there fleecing the rest of the world to line their own pockets and have lawyers that earn 7 figure incomes annually just to crack down on piracy and copyright violations (like insuring that such events as Ren Faires have an ASCAP license), and also to devise contracts such that the artists that they've actually signed get screwed. I mean, honestly - it's getting so bad out there, especially for the "fringe" artists (like ourselves), that it's just ridiculous.

The music and recording industry want to strictly control what the public hears as far as music, but what they're putting out there for new music frankly sucks and they're losing market share, so they blame piracy and copyright thieves and tighten their grip even more. It's ridiculous.

I said it to Jay, and I'll say it here - the RIAA, big labels, and ASCAP/BMI could drop off the face of the Earth right now. It'd make my day.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more...

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

A Pox on the RIAA devils!

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

PS: May I snag this and post it?

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Please do...I think the wider readership this issue has, the better.

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Something like this almost calls for a mass mailing program of support.

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Posted.

[bleuberi21.livejournal.com]

oh what crap.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

It's worse than that; it's big brother telling what we can and cannot listen to, under the guise of "protecting the musicians" who don't get much out of it.

It's complete and utter bullshit and makes me furious!

[greeneyedtengu.livejournal.com]

This harkens back to RIAA suing the trustees of a dead woman, claiming she had downloaded pirated music and that the trustees were liable. The kicker? The supposed pirate never owned a computer.

This is utter shit. Does anyone know if there are any protests we can all get in on or petitions to sign?

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I've emailed RenGeek to see and haven't heard back from him yet.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Will do!

[greeneyedtengu.livejournal.com]

Keep us posted!

[sashastarchaser.livejournal.com]

Who better to start one than us...internet petitions don't hold water, though. It has to be literal signatures of registered voters to legally count, but Scarborough opens soon as do several other faires, which would be a good place to start...who knows enough about petitions to word it properly?

[greeneyedtengu.livejournal.com]

There's my question. Real sigs are what matters... we need to come up with a petition to send out to lots of places and get real signatures to send in.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Alrighty. Well then, looks like we need to write one, huh.

I need something else to do like a hole in the head but it needs to be done. Hmmmmm...I know somebody who's really articulate and passionate and loves the music dearly. Hey, apocalypticbob, wanna start that writing we were talking about just a little early?

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

Man, that sucks.

[journiey.livejournal.com]

MAN I HATE That! The Fuckholes!!!!!

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yep, pretty much. ASCAP/BMI are real shit-heads. Greed personified.

[vikingcoder.livejournal.com]

Apologies for the thread-jacking, but is that icon a Les Toil piece?

[journiey.livejournal.com]

Yes It Is :)

[ladyegreen.livejournal.com]

:( That makes me incredibly sad to hear.

[rowangolightly.livejournal.com]

Yes, me too. We've made many friends through Michael's hard work. Many folks' first hearing of Queen's Gambit's "Kilkelly" or "Queen of Argyll" or "Lass of the Low Country" were on RenRadio. Michael is a great guy who has literally broken himself financially to keep this dream alive.

It truly sucks.

[mermaid2003.livejournal.com]

It sucks. Yet another example of over-regulation when it's not needed! I'll miss RenRadio and all the other Live 365 stations I've listened to.

[starseeking.livejournal.com]

I have stolen the story!

[fairyoffire.livejournal.com]

That's the suck!

[teross50.livejournal.com]

The few who own the world, and the air we breath, are corrupted/seduced , and wholly owned subsidiaries of the dark side. The revolution will come.