[BC] Re: [BC The END of Internet Radio?

[Rich Wood]

At 09:54 PM 3/8/2007, you wrote:

>Yes, as long as internet radio is another portal for terrestrial radio
>only.  To hell with the little guy, he's out of the picture now that he
>can't afford it.  Do you think these new rates hurt the big guys?

Absolutely. My former company stopped all music streaming because of 
the fees. An Internet-only "station" we had stopped streaming. The 
bigger you are, the higher the total fee. Generally, streams make no 
money. They do extend the brand. A radio station has a far better 
promotional vehicle to drive people to the net than "the little guy." 
They pay by the song times the streams. The little guy is often doing 
it as a hobby using other people's product for which he pays nothing 
- until now.

I've been involved with radio streaming since it began. I've watched 
companies go belly up because bandwidth cost too much at the time. 
The classic "big guy" death was broadcast.com after Yahoo bought it. 
It didn't make money. Probably the last straw was the additional 
music fees that made an unprofitable operation a serious drain on the 
company. I spoke with Mark Cuban about what he thought the fees might 
be. He was frustrated because no one could tell him how much the fees 
would be. In addition, they were to be retroactive. These were the 
Hillary Rosen days.

The seminar I mentioned earlier at the Radio & Records Talk Radio 
Seminar in Los Angeles had a panel of about 10 folks in 
decision-making positions, as well as research companies. Not a 
single person argued against the fact that the Internet was critical 
to the broadening of the station's brand. It includes streaming, 
podcasting, text messaging and anything we might dream up later.

I believe the RIAA is going to see it's shooting itself in the foot 
and will come up with a more realistic fee schedule. I do know fees 
are not going to go away. The "little guy" who does it because the 
world needs his personal music mix is going to see his allowance dry 
up. Whether we like it or not music is someone else's property. You 
use it, you pay. Simple.

Rich