The End of Internet Radio?
Posted March 5, 2007 — in Music News
The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board known as the CRB has endorsed a plan by SoundExchange, the royalty-collections division of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), to raise the fees Internet radio broadcasters must pay to broadcast their music.
The royalty increases are high enough (.0008 per performance) to put Web-based radio stations out of business. They can’t afford to pay those royalty fees.
Lets look at it this way:
For a station with 2,000 listeners playing 15 songs per hour, the math looks like this:
15 x $.0007 = $.0105 per listener/hour
$.0105 x 2000 = $21 for 2000 listeners in an hour
$21 x 24 = $504 per day
$504 x 365.25 = $184,086 per year
This exceeds the gross revenues of most internet radio station today. (LinuxJournal)
“It’s the end of Internet radio as we know it,” one broadcaster fumed. “The RIAA wants to put us all out of business.”
In all honesty, I don’t listen to Internet Radio. I can’t find an internet radio station that suits my personal taste. It’s very fragmented. For those who do, start getting aquainted with FM again.
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They aren’t going out of business. There are tons of great indie bands that will take their place. Kids today just don’t listen to FM radio anyway. Without dropping any names you should explore the tremendous popularity of some indie music podcasts. Sure some of its crap but there are hundreds of indie bands that are just as good as what the RIAA is trying to cram down everyones throats.
Comment by Brett — March 5, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
internet radio today is what tape trading was in the 80’s.it’s the key to finding new bands and new ideas.when bands are looking for new markets and new fans to sell cd’s and merch internet radio is a must.we as unsigned bands are willing to spend money on a road trip to another state to play out and maybe play in front of 40 people.(come on guys..when we play out of state we are trading shows with some band and are the opening band in most cases)internet radio even with it’s small audience is still a great way to get your music heard.we did an interview on nvasionradio.com that is out of New York and maybe they had 100 people listening world wide.will this pack the the club at our next show? NO..but this has given us a chance to reach a new audience and help in cd and merch sales.any band that (in the real world)will never see a label deal but live for what they do must know that internet radio is a tool we all need.support internet radio.internet radio like myspace is our door to the world…now get off your ass and start working it!!
Comment by larry anderson — March 6, 2007 @ 4:26 am
In other radio news:
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/business/16842097.htm
Comment by Scott — March 6, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
Never really got into internet radio. When I first found out about internet radio the connections were choppy. Even with today’s indie radio there is some much homogenization and emphasis on a particular image going on that I find it hard to sit through other people’s playlists. Now, in the age of the Ipod and playlists, I’ll just hit shuffle with my own collection.
Comment by Peter Merli — March 6, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
Don’t forget, there’s also the Small Webcasters Settlement Act that was passed a few years ago. This allows small internet stations to pay either 8% of their gross or 5% of their expenses instead of paying royalties. Not sure how small you have to be to qualify but most internet stations have way fewer listeners than your average fm station.
Comment by Brett — March 6, 2007 @ 5:39 pm