Snortblog

KUT out of Austin, Texas, U.S.A. is participating in the day of Internet Radio Silence today. It appears to be another misguided attempt by the RIAA to set up a legally-mandated protection racket benefiting major players in the recording industry while, in effect, restricting the spread of American culture to the international public, no matter the intention of the artists the RIAA claims to represent. According to indiepod.com,

the RIAA’s affiliate organization SoundExchange claims it has the right to collect royalties for any artist, no matter if they have signed with an RIAA label or not. ‘SoundExchange (the RIAA) considers any digital performance of a song as falling under their compulsory license. If any artist records a song, SoundExchange has the right to collect royalties for its performance on Internet radio. Artists can offer to download their music for free, but they cannot offer their songs to Internet radio for free … So how it works is that SoundExchange collects money through compulsory royalties from Webcasters and holds onto the money. If a label or artist wants their share of the money, they must become a member of SoundExchange and pay a fee to collect their royalties.

The future for independent American musicians who want to get international exposure through internet radio? Take off to the great white north, eh?

More information:

• savenetradio.org
• In the U.S.A., contact your congressional representative
• U.S. COPYRIGHT BOARD THREATENS DRAMATIC COST ADJUSTMENTS FOR KUT
• Internet Radio’s Day of Silence
• Tomorrow: Day of Silence for Internet Radio
• Save Public Radio Webcasting