Internet Radio Stations React To New Royalty Scheme → ..unlike Over-The-Air Radio Stations, They already have to..

When the recording industry finally allowed internet music stations back online a few years ago, they were saddled with several restrictions RF broadcasters weren't aren't and will never be stuck with. A few:

• Artist and Album can only be announced/posted after the particular selection begins to play. No "Coming Up" tracklists.
  
• A mandatory 60-minute delay shall be observed between taking a song request and playing it.
  
• Four hours must elapse after playing one selection by any particular artist, before playing another by same.
  

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what their "major malfunction" is; it's either: (1) Blood supply, and therefore oxygen, is being restricted to their collective brain via a spincter tightly clenched around their neck, or (2) Chronic constipation, caused by a lower intestinal blockage the size on an adult's crainum (!) Take your pick.

-NK

Oh yeah. The only thing that they did the same as their over-the-air kin was the paying of BMI/ASCAP/SESAC publisher royalties. According to someone who runs a fairly decent 80's station, these fees were accomodatingly negotiable withe those three organizations. Does this new fee go to the songwriters, as the latter, or does it go into some other organization's pockets?

I can tell you what's wrong....they are scared someone is going to stream-rip the music. Once again, assuming everyone out there is a pirate...

»www.soundexchange.com/

You're exactly correct there, and remember please that "home taping" is explicitly mentioned in the Copyright Act as being "noninfringing" (legal). So, WTF is going on here? They just put "the camel's nose under the tent" towards eliminating the consumer's right to "fair use" of the content of audiovisual media he owns --

Sayeth I:

"The entertainment industry is dragging the public into a DRM-laden world, and the cynical bastards will not stop until we are charged a tidy sum each time we want to listen to/watch any song/movie that we might (only think we) have already purchased a copy thereof.
No more taping an album to listen to in your car on your way to work; you'll have to buy another copy for those environs. Worse yet, sell your car, buy a new one, and you won't be able to play it in your new car! Have a "favorite song"? Wear out the disk that it's on, and you'll equally wear out your MasterCard!

I'll add here, that the main reason Windows Vista runs so damn slow is that the Protected Mode Video Path and Protected User Mode Audio support processes are furiously doing their thing 24/7, akin to a rent-a-cop high on coffee and doughnuts!

Thank God I'm an oldster of 44 years, already have a sizeable collection of DRM-free content I can listen to or watch whereever and on whatever I darn please, and find that most of the entertainment content currently marketed at the public is pure crap. When I *do* need some new music to listen to, there's a good used-disc store in town that I can purchase some good ol' 20th-Century, DRM-free jazz and country to add to my rock-dominated collection.

-NK

.. is run by the RIAA!