Bill, I have been a listener for a short time to Radio Paradise and a subscriber (meager pony; I’m English (living in Oregon), look it up). Radio Paradise is great and if I could get all the programming you provide at no cost it would be heaven. We don’t reside in heaven.

There is a balance that must be met. Afterall, you need income and so do recording artists and yes, the evil recording company. I need income. We all need income.

The dynamics of the situation are not black and white (we’ve had enough of that good and evil, with us or against us crap, surely?). Agreeing to arbitration necessarily gives away certain rights. That’s the idea. Crying foul after a decision that goes against you defeats its purpose.

I am still trying to collect my thoughts on this as I write.

As I see it, Clear Channel gets royalty free access to music because it provides an alternative for the record companies; free advertising. There’s a reason commercial radio (generally) sucks.

Sure you provide a service listeners want, but what about artists (no, I’m not one)?

Listening to the Kinks. Waterloo Sunset. Classic. Internet radio needs to provide a service to artists and record labels. Clear Channel is actually a model you should strive for. If you want to remain viable. It’s not a case of dumbing down, but if what you provide is so in demand SHOW ME THE MONEY. Sorry. That is probably copyrighted!

Seems to me the royalties are fair (I’m no expert here). Maybe your niche is promoting bands that need exposure. Heck, I new the Kinks back in ‘68. Do I still need to hear them? Introduce more diverse content.

We live a (money) market driven culture. The internet wild west is long gone. More like present day Dodge City (a real disappointment).

Hate me if you want.

Jef

Have you considered setting something up similar to http://www.letvafly.com/? They have a great little feature that let’s you type in your zipcode and it will automatically send an Email to all of your state, local and national government representatives. We need to start getting this in front of lawmakers!

-jim

The US Copyright Royalty board has approved a per-performance royalty regime for internet streaming. Per-performance means they pay royalties for every _listener_ for each song they play, retroactive to 2006. This puts a far greater burden on internet …

I sincerely adore your radio station, and so am sad to hear this news. I know this is easier said than done, but have you thought about re-locating to Canada?

-bilbo.

From that point in time I have spent countless hours, and countless dollars discovering, purchasing and listening to this cutting-edge music that I previously never knew existed because the AM/FM radio stations simply didn’t play that kind of music.

In my youth I had the free time and the circle of friends at school to find good music by word of mouth. Once I was out of school, that network just faded away. The music that I heard on the radio was not at all interesting. But one day I discovered Radio Paradise. I was once more connected to a resource for finding new, exciting music.

Like many Radio Paradise listeners, I’m at a point in my life that I’m making a very comfortable income. I can afford to purchase the CD, even if I was not morally opposed to doing such things, my time is too valuable to waste on stealing music. I also demand the utmost in quality. No “lossy compression” MP3 stream will substitute for the full fidelity CD or music DVD.

I am happy to give right and just compensation to those who create, perform and bring me that content. I have spent many thousands of dollars lately, updating my CD collection with new music that I discovered through Internet radio, as well as acquiring new, remastered copies of albums which I already owned.

What I don’t understand is how the record industry plans on surviving. Sales are slipping, not because people are stealing their product, but because demand decreases when a $20 CD has only one good song on it. I fail to see how becoming more Draconian is going to save the bottom line.

Another thing that I don’t understand is why, with practically every AM, FM and TV broadcaster transmitting digital signals, that Internet radio is being singled out to penalize. That makes absolutely no sense.

I’m so sorry to hear about your money-grabbing corporate-loving freedom-hating government in Downing Street …. ooops, that’s here in the UK. But, hey, it fits you guys too!.

I love RP. Do the bonzos at RIAA realise how many cd’s I’ve purchased because of your wonderfully eclectic playlists. And we all know what happens when the bigger corporations run the playlists.

I’m so sorry I can’t do anything from here in the UK. Or can I?

Bestest wishes to you both.

PS: Have the RIAA got their mean tentacles into offshore companies as well?

Still, as I have a rather dark view of the “Free Market Forces” I must say that this death sentence has not been delivered before. Oh, it has, and the RIAA handed you the last straw. Let’s hope they do that again, but….

Anyway Bill Rebecca, let me thank you for all the good stuff that you have given us. Such a lot of great music that I otherwise never would have heard of. Such a true joy to submerge into your great playlists. Thanks!

Its a marvelous, a place where people can go to let the troubles of the world fly by, a world whereby politics play no part. Or so I thought.

I would like to hope that common decency and good will to those who give up their lives for the enjoyment of others like Bill and Rebecca have done will win through and a middle ground can be formed for such a fantastic outlet of musicians performances as Radio Paradise is.

Paul Cunliffe
Southport, Liverpool, England.

Bill/Rebecca, please write up a petition so we can copy/paste to them.
Chuck, a loyal listener and contributor

Maybe this is not the place to discuss this, but I feel compelled to oppose Jeff’s statement above.

RP provides free advertising for record companies as much as CC does by playing the music. In addition RP does a much better job of identifying artists and songs (on-air mentions, mp3 stream title, and website play list) making it much easier than any CC station to find the artist purchase the whole album thereby generating revenue for the record labels.

Victor

When I discovered Internet radio, I also rediscovered what had attracted me to the medium in the first place. For me, the fascination is in hearing new things and new sounds, not a repeat of the same tired list of commercially manufactured “hits” every few hours.

What’s most disturbing about how laws affecting Internet technologies are being made is that the legislators are almost entirely ignorant of even the basics of the technologies but can be tricked, coerced or schmoozed into voting for laws that are unfair and nonsensical on their face. Some of our legislator’s ignorance is so deep that they don’t even know how clueless they are…think of Ted Stevens’ “series of tubes.”

I’m beginning to believe the only hope of saving Internet Radio from becoming yet another dumbed-down advertising conduit would be a case fought through the federal courts where it would be possible to have experts in the technology appear as witnesses to point out the inequity of the current law.

R.

Also see the part about terrestrial (FM) radio not paying performance royalties VS Internet radio paying them.

Bill & Rebecca - I am so happy you’ve been educating people about this issue. That’s huge!

In UK we would use Isle of Mann or Jersey, as just two examples.

This is like a re-run of the Pirate Radio - conglomerate industry confrontation in UK in the 60’s. The winning solution there was off-shore too.

BG replies:

We are open to the idea of moving our business out of the US, but would prefer to operate from home base here in California. We’re still hopeful that the US Congress will see the light and rectify this situation. But if they don’t we certainly don’t intend to give up our dream and do something drastic — like get real jobs…

I have been listener of your station for some time and its the best - nothing I can get over the FM does even get close. The general broadcast ether is filled with gruesome garbage of idiot-targeted ads and total lack of quality and imagination.

It is the same for TV but thats ok, I havent owned a TV set for whole adult part of my life and each time I see some my resolution to never have one just gets stronger. Im happier without it.

But I cannot live totally without music. Your station has been the answer.

I feel bad that I havent been able to send you as much support as you deserve. Bad times. But i want to have the possibility to do so in future.

As to how to save the station.. it will be hard. Some people just have too much money and care too little. Everyone reading this, please Digg this post (I made me digg account specially for it), its the easiest way to rise awareness at moment. Bill and Rebecca - if you need some extra funds to combat this evil, move/rescue servers etc, please set up a special targeted fund, link at your radio page and many of your listeners will donate generously.

In the end I think moving the servers/company outside of RIAA owned countries might be only solution..

Anything, just please dont give up. We are at your command and support when the hour comes.

What a joke these rules are. I read your blog and it was very disheartening. What are the rules in different jurisdictions that aren’t governed by the US Copyright act? Is there a way around this short sighted decision? Good luck. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.

- The new SoundExchange reporting requirements that kicked in, and mandate stations have to report between 9 and 11 variables for every song they play.

- The rehashed PERFORM act (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957368.html?categoryid=18&cs=1) which would outlaw any non-DRM webstreaming like mp3, etc.

… and so on, and so on. It’s a blitzkreig attack: Even if you manage to quash one unrealistic demand, three more make it through, and Internet Radio loses no matter what.

So, thanks, soulless copyright-enforcement dipsh*ts, for doing your best to ruining yet another good thing.

I am in the same boat as many entering this discussion. I feel strongly enough to join an online discussion for the first time. We’ve got to get the word out on how to bring this change in law to an abrupt end. I, personally don’t know the answer but will sure be searching for one. BILL AND REBECCA, I’m officially joining the unnamed army to fight for you! I personally feel bad for never having the funds to donate to you, even though you’ve added a priceless amount of enjoyment to my life. Here is my ultimate donation: I will fight to the end to make sure the last seven years of your life have not been in vain!!!

**LONG LIVE RADIOPARADISE**

Obvious in the flourishing internet radio scene is the fact that the major FM conglomerates are failing at producing what us consumers want to hear.

Moreover, the radio scene in the 60s when these laws were originally written was so much more diverse. Today, in light of the emergence of massive, uniform, ubiquitous conglomerates like Clear Channel, internet radio is filling the demand for the diverse array of tastes and preferences out there.

It seems the RIAA acts ideologically on issues like this, instead of conducting a rational analysis of the economic impact of internet radio–positive or negative–on their sales and profits. I think they would find it to be positive to sales if they only looked into the issue, instead of their knee-jerk response of running to Congress to “tattle.”

So, let’s act.

It would be very helpful, and I’ve written to saveourinternetradio.com to the same effect, to have the citation of the Copyright Office’s publication, undoubtedly in the Federal Register, to find out what kind of rule was published and what, if anything, can be done about it. The retroactivity is especially disturbing.

Yes, moving the whole shebang offshore or to Canada is a solution, but let’s see if there’s something short of that that will keep RP and its brethren on the net.

I’m baffled by your reasoning. You feel Clear Channel provides a service, in the form of free advertising, to the record companies. And yet you fail to see internet radio as another form of free advertising. Airplay is airplay, regardless of the manner in which the broadcast occurs. I’m just as likely to buy a song that I hear on internet radio as I would be if I heard the same song on a terrestrial broadcast station or a satellite radio station. In fact, I’m more likely to because I only listen to internet radio.

The irony of all of this is that the record labels still haven’t kicked the payola habit. They’ve been paying radio stations to play marginal new artists for the last five decades. Internet radio is arguably a better (and more affordable) way for labels to gain airplay for their smaller acts.

The RIAA should be glad these webstations exist — listeners like me have sought out these stations to avoid the crap played on top 40 FM stations.

I don’t want the RIAA or their lawyers telling me what I can and cannot listen to.

If we boycott just one day of shopping for media we can get our voices heard.

If people in the street still have the kind of impact that they should, then I say lets meet in Sacramento and force our local gov. to recongnize that they have some real people in their face! I’ve been looking for an excuse to get arrested lately anyway.

Bill, pick a date and we will be there.

Mike Johnson, Truckee CA

I want you guys to know, though, that if the worst does happen, I’ll never forget what you’ve done for good, rare, independant music and its listeners!

RP is truely my musical Utopia, and always will be.

My name is Rich, and I’m proud to be a supporting listener of a fine internet radio station, Radio Paradise.

Ken

It is time to man the barricades (so to speak) of the internet!

I’m Cristina from Romania and a huge fan of RP. You’ve done a wonderful job so far and it’s breaking my heart to hear that you might be going out of business. I think it’s totally unfair what’s happening to you and to all the other US independent webcasters. If there’s anything I can do…

Drew

U.S. Senators of the 110th Congress

My fiancee worked in a Senator’s office for 4 years, and she can attest– they do listen to their mail very carefully!

I’ll be writing my congresscritters later today, and will be posting about this on my blog, but in the meantime — have you considered the possibility of switching to all-podsafe music? The RIAA is already whining about their declining “take” from CD sales; maybe it’s time to dry up their airplay money too…

BG replies:

That’s just not an option for a station like RP. Virtually all good music released before 2002 or so (& most of what’s been released since) is controlled by one of the major labels, or by an indie label unwilling to sign away their royalty rights. A radio station that played nothing but new, unsigned indie artists would not be a bad thing, but it wouldn’t be RP.

Love the station and the format, it is ridiculous what they expect you to pay. Does this affect internet stations in just the US? I am just curious because the laws in Canada are more relaxed when it comes to the music industry.

Besides, you do provide valuable access for people to purchase music, it is too bad that the music companies can’t see beyond that.

I wish you the best in your fight.

After most of us get out of college, we don’t explore music nearly as much or as adventurously as we should. Broadcast radio doesn’t encourage stretching our horizons and satellite radio so far hasn’t rocked our world.

But Bill and Rebecca play an A-MAZING variety of music. Sure, I don’t like all of it. But I like 95% of what I hear on Radio Paradise, and the whole community surrounding this couple encourages me to re-consider the 5% that doesn’t grab me.

This new royalty scheme is unbelievable. Recording industry executives should realize that Internet radio is a way to GROW audiences, to get people excited about music again. Conventional radio has become so stale and boring that people don’t care that their iPods don’t have built-in tuners: they’d rather listen to their own playlists.

Or they can listen to fresh approaches to music provided by folks like Bill and Rebecca. I hope the RIAA and other groups behind these increases wake up and realize that they could be killing the young goose that’s already laying golden eggs for them. If they can’t or won’t wake up, RP listeners and others need to organize and make their voices heard.

Kent in Washington, DC

Are there Bills to support or fight?

http://www.radioparadise.com/content.php?name=Forums&file=showtopic&topic_id=9567

A lively discussion on the topic, with Bill answering a lot of questions posed here, is in progress.

I discovered RP when I got my first High speed Internet connection End of 2000, when I spent one year studying in LA. It’s my favorite station since then. I don’t know what I would do without RP. I’m from Kiel in northern Germany where there are only a few FM stations and all of them are getting worse except for one small one but reception is bad in my room.
I must admit: It’s been a while since i bought my last record but I don’t have the money right now. But when that changes, most of the stuff on my List would be music I heard on RP or maybe on some other webstations…

If I find out something I can do from here in Germany I will…
Until then I wish you all the Best!

(Stephanie said it right) ban/boycott their products. Tell everyone you know, post on every forum you use, plan a date that we decide to buy nothing. Only internet radio will be heard that day. Nothing hurts the rich like making them poor.

Bill and Rebecca move the servers off shore and continue with business as usual. US businesses like Banks do this everyday.

Bill, simple solution:

Only play independent labels that agree not to shaft you. Screw the corporate establishment, and refuse to play their shit.

This will be a big hit in your musical inventory, but you can adapt. Refocus on giving up and coming artists, whose outfits aren’t greed centered the publicity they need.

BG replies:

This has come up a lot, and I appreciate the suggestion and the thinking behind it, it’s just not a realistic alternative for RP. There are plenty of stations that play nothing but new, unsigned artists — and nobody listens to them. It’s the mix of new indie artists like Fontaine with established artists like REM, Radiohead, The Beatles, etc. that is attractive to RP’s listeners, and provides those new artists with valuable exposure. The percentage of music played on RP that is controlled by a major label or by an indie label unwilling to sign away their rights probably approaches 95%. I’m not interested in programming a radio station that is only able to play 5% of what I would LIKE to play — and you probably wouldn’t be interested in listening to it for very long.

Which brings me to my point: I’ve never paid for anything I’ve burned to CD. I’ve also never broken any copyright laws. Everything I have used has come from free sites; copyright if any is via Creative Commons. There are far more recordings available for free than anyone (including me) can imagine. I have had a fantasy of doing a regular radio program consisting entirely of freely available materials.

Why can’t this be done? No, you won’t get a lot of musical stars on records largely owned by conglomerates. You will, however, glean a great deal of fabulous material in any genre you can think of: just to name a few things I have enjoyed, ancient blues, country, and gospel recordings; music from hundred-year-old cylinders; trash people have picked up at yard sales and seen fit to put on line; a rap song about Ronald Reagan sung in German by an 80-year-old artist; Viennese popular songs from the 1920s (URLs gladly provided on request).

What the RIAA is doing is shameful, and unfortunate; I wish nonprofit ventures like this one could flourish without corporate interference. But even so, not every bit of recorded material is covered by copyright, and among the many bits that are not are some incredible treasures. I hope you, and others who are fascinated by the Internet and the prospect of streaming music they love, can dig up some of them for the delight of your listeners, and they shouldn’t cost you a thing.

The only way to fix this is to bombard our elected officials with either a petition or letter writing campaign. The have to - by law - respond to each and every one.

Would someone who is saavy about this please put up a site or get this started? I would be happy to help or contribute anything I can whether it be money or time.

I’m an independant recording artist and this affects me too! Internet radio is sometimes the only place that an “indy” can get airplay.

Let’s get active about this!!

BG replies:

See my comments above.

You guys have brought a lot of fantastic music to us, enriching my life and the lives of countless others. Even if sanity loses out, you have done a Very Good Thing, and we’re all grateful.

Everything changes, and no effort is wasted.

As others have suggested, as a last resort (or maybe not so last resort) you can set up a company in another country that is more friendly to your enterprise. It’s not such an exotic thing to do. A LOT of your listeners have companies in other countries. I’m one of them.

One day you’d just announce on RadioParidise.com that you’ve had to shut it down, BUT … luckily another company outside of the US has contracted with you and Rebbecca to continue doing what you love to do. You’d just need to check it carefully with your lawyers to make sure it was set up correctly. And the two of you would stay right where you are.

As a convenience, links to the new streams are on your old site … etc.

Bill and Rebecca, if things don’t go so well for your enterprise in the US, you’d be very welcome in the rest of the world! Go for it!

I’m typing this from Switzerland, listening to RP.

Nando

I am no fan of the major labels due in large part to the crap they foist upon the consumer. I have dealt mainly with indie artists and will do so for as long as I can.

Perhaps a solution can be found at least in the short term by negotiating terms with indie artists who are not slaves to the corporate thugs. I realize this will remove much of what you cuurently play, but there are many derserving bands who should get some airtime. Just maybe when the consumer backlash over this latest draconiam affront strikes home, a new climate will take shape that will allow you to once again play that which you have been.

It isn’t a great solution, but while people contact their lawmakers and attempt to fix this it can keep you going at a rate structure you can handle.

Btw, I also have maintained a web blog for nearly a year now on which I review cd releases from unsigned blues artsits. I have contacted every artist featured and secured permission to upload their cd for fans, radio and promoters to download free of charge. The artists recognize the benefit of the free advertising and it has resulted in increased sales and live show bookings. Feel free to use this music as it was put there for your purpose.

http://www.leversblues.blogspot.com

Each cd reviewed has been uploaded to the megaupload servers complete with cover art. The last line of each of my reviews gives the address to download the cd. They are zipped with winrar into one file each.

Good luck and keep up the great work.

Tom Pennock
The Lever Agency

I really hope you two get through with this and RP stays on the web. It would be a great loss if it didn’t. Finding a commercial free quality radio today ain’t easy (if even possible).

Issues like this makes me think of the phrase “Land of the free…”, what does that mean, in reality?

You got my support in this struggle, and I wish you the best of luck!

/Johan
(Sweden)

XO
Bora

this is an outrage to me and many other loyal listeners.

the only cds i’ve purchased in the past 5 yrs is directly due to radioparadise.com. otherwise, i know i’d not have made those purchases.

we will do all we can to keep it going.

we will write the powers that be so that our voices will be heard in regard to saving something we love deeply.

good luck bill and rebecca!

lily34 - rebecca, derby, ny

I have bought 7 CD’s in the past few months of artists I have discovered from the internet. Before then, I never bought a CD in my life, I would just download singles and albums of popular artists. It’s the internet that has given a better appreciation of artists , while commercial radio had just convinced me to download whatever they make popular.

Please, RIAA, don’t help destroy something that has made me and many others actually appreciate music and other artists.

Chilliwack, BC, Canada.

To people who say just rent a server outside the country and stream from there, the bottom line is that the government can arrest you as long as you reside in the US. The government doesn’t care where the server is - they care about where you physically live. If you’re in this country, then you’re operating from this country. The only way to avoid this is to physically move to another country, and that’s an expensive and stressful proposition for most people.

To the folks who say just play non-RIAA music, that is easier said than done. There isn’t the same depth of music available and stations would have to focus primarily on new music. And you couldn’t play anything from music’s rich cultural heritage from the last 100 years.

I think the only thing we can do is to write your Congressmen - but also write your local newspapers and media outlets. The only way we can get the Copyright Royalty Board to change its rate schedule is to publicly embarass them in the media and make people see that this is an attempt to wipe out competition to terrestrial radio by taking music off the Internet.

So, in my humble contribution to the effort, I blogged about it, too.

http://rosswriting.com/blog

But, boy, SOS, huh? Call me a hayseed, but it’s still so amazing to me how people in, for instance, an office in Washington can be so callous about squelching diversity in the economy.

Let’s hope we can make enough noise again (like with the Day of Silence in 2002) to have some effect on the Board before the 15th.