| Wednesday, April 18, 2007 |
| Bootstrapping to Save Internet Radio |
We all know and love Pandora. Just a couple of things I wanted to say.
First- the banner above was created by someone at the group SaveNetRadio.org. It's pretty bad. All of them are- but this one in particular. First, the concept is bad...or maybe i'm just thick. Are they trying to say "Don't let your radio turn into a piece of bread?" Or maybe they meant toast? I don't know-but if our radios really did turn into a piece of bread, can you imagine what sort of sound it would make? I can't decide if it would be a gooey sort of sound, of maybe something more like a little kid jumping into a bunch of pillows and blankets...
Anyway, secondly-it looks like instead of paying for the that bread photo, they did a little photoshopping to take out the iStockPhoto watermark. Notice the diagonal white lines near the bottom... But maybe it's a good idea- it shows the extent to which they're financially strapped.
In any case, it's a worthy cause. Quoting an email from the founder of Pandora, Tim Westergren:I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays, and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.
In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.
To sign the petition (I hear online petitions are worthless...but worth a try), go to savenetradio.org |
posted by Brett Crockett @ 2:30 PM   |
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