Roberto Phoenix
03-06-2007, 11:31 PM
This was posted on a internet radio station forum board that I post on and listen to on a daily basis. I know alot of us listen to Renradio which would also be affected by this so I thought I would pass the word around:
Once again our goverment is deciding what is "BEST FOR US"
Yes, the corporate suits are at it again. It is not enough that they curtail your rights of fair use by locking your CDs and your computer files to self destruct like a audio tape from Mission Impossible. NO! They want to stamp out all competition! By eliminating Internet radio and thereby the venues where thousands of otherwise unknown independent artists get heard. This is not the first time that Internet Radio has been threatened. And every time, hundreds of wonderful stations are wiped off the Internet. Just because they play what people want to hear. Unless you want Internet radio to be controlled by Clear Channel, and every Internet radio station be be like MTV ("I remember when you could actually hear good music on the Internet."), then please. Help to take a stand.
If the corporate suits can do this to Internet Radio, you can bet that popular sites such as Myspace and Youtube where so many hang out, will go the way of the Dodo as well. If this is allowed, then before long there will be no place where anyone who has not signed their rights away in blood can legally be heard.
Dear Friends, Members and Listeners:
During the nearly 5 years that I have had the pleasure of building and running Celtic Radio I never thought that everything that we have worked so hard to create could be lost in a single moment.
Yet that moment came last Friday when the Copyright Royalty Board (http://www.loc.gov/crb/) announced new rates for Internet Radio Stations. Friends, if these rates go into effect it will basically kill off ALL independent and even big name internet radio sites like Live365.
The RIAA has managed to have our own government's Copyright arm rubber stamp their own agenda which is an assault on all American people by their own legal system. Thousands of independent stations like Celtic Radio will be wiped off the scene and a new age of Corporate only radio sites will replace the community and creativiness that you have all come to know and love.
The purpose of the new rates is to Kill off all independent radio stations in the U.S. and replace it with one big spam machine run by the RIAA. There will be no sites such as Celtic Radio where a person can find the comfort of good friendship, good music and a bit of sanity from this often cruel world.
I am now asking that everyone please help us save this site and the many thousands others like it by contacting your congress and senate. This needs to be done ASAP because we only have 30 days to get this overturned. Please tell all of your family and friends, business associates, teachers, church families. Copy and paste this message in an email and ask them to help.
Please visit this site for more information and links to write to congress and the senate.
http://www.savenetradio.org/
We will not go down without a good fight!
Ideas, Suggestions and thoughts are appreciated.
UPDATE
We will update this section as new links and resources become available. The following links are very important and you can help Internet Radio by visiting these links which include information, petitions and more:
http://www.savethestreams.org/
http://www.saveourinternetradio.com/
Save Internet Radio Petition #1 (http://www.petitiononline.com/SIR2007r/petition.html)
Save Internet Radio Petition #2 (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveinternetradio/)
Email Congress (http://capwiz.com/congressorg/sbx/f/?aid=9461656&r=1)
Follow up with a phone call: Look Up Phone Numbers (http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt)
Example Text to use for Congress and Senate:
QUOTE
As your constituent and a fan of Internet radio, I was alarmed to learn that music royalty rates were recently determined by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) which, if enacted, would certainly silence most or all of my favorite online listening services. For most webcasters, this royalty rate represents more than 100% of their total revenues!
The shuttering of the webcasting industry would be a loss for not only independent business owners, but also for musical artists, for copyright owners, and for listeners like me who enjoy the wide variety of choices available via Internet radio.
I respectfully request that your office look into this matter and initiate action to prevent it. As the CRB rate decision is retroactive to January 1, 2006, please understand that time is of the essence -- as the immediate impact of this decision could silence many Internet radio stations forever.
Once again our goverment is deciding what is "BEST FOR US"
Yes, the corporate suits are at it again. It is not enough that they curtail your rights of fair use by locking your CDs and your computer files to self destruct like a audio tape from Mission Impossible. NO! They want to stamp out all competition! By eliminating Internet radio and thereby the venues where thousands of otherwise unknown independent artists get heard. This is not the first time that Internet Radio has been threatened. And every time, hundreds of wonderful stations are wiped off the Internet. Just because they play what people want to hear. Unless you want Internet radio to be controlled by Clear Channel, and every Internet radio station be be like MTV ("I remember when you could actually hear good music on the Internet."), then please. Help to take a stand.
If the corporate suits can do this to Internet Radio, you can bet that popular sites such as Myspace and Youtube where so many hang out, will go the way of the Dodo as well. If this is allowed, then before long there will be no place where anyone who has not signed their rights away in blood can legally be heard.
Dear Friends, Members and Listeners:
During the nearly 5 years that I have had the pleasure of building and running Celtic Radio I never thought that everything that we have worked so hard to create could be lost in a single moment.
Yet that moment came last Friday when the Copyright Royalty Board (http://www.loc.gov/crb/) announced new rates for Internet Radio Stations. Friends, if these rates go into effect it will basically kill off ALL independent and even big name internet radio sites like Live365.
The RIAA has managed to have our own government's Copyright arm rubber stamp their own agenda which is an assault on all American people by their own legal system. Thousands of independent stations like Celtic Radio will be wiped off the scene and a new age of Corporate only radio sites will replace the community and creativiness that you have all come to know and love.
The purpose of the new rates is to Kill off all independent radio stations in the U.S. and replace it with one big spam machine run by the RIAA. There will be no sites such as Celtic Radio where a person can find the comfort of good friendship, good music and a bit of sanity from this often cruel world.
I am now asking that everyone please help us save this site and the many thousands others like it by contacting your congress and senate. This needs to be done ASAP because we only have 30 days to get this overturned. Please tell all of your family and friends, business associates, teachers, church families. Copy and paste this message in an email and ask them to help.
Please visit this site for more information and links to write to congress and the senate.
http://www.savenetradio.org/
We will not go down without a good fight!
Ideas, Suggestions and thoughts are appreciated.
UPDATE
We will update this section as new links and resources become available. The following links are very important and you can help Internet Radio by visiting these links which include information, petitions and more:
http://www.savethestreams.org/
http://www.saveourinternetradio.com/
Save Internet Radio Petition #1 (http://www.petitiononline.com/SIR2007r/petition.html)
Save Internet Radio Petition #2 (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveinternetradio/)
Email Congress (http://capwiz.com/congressorg/sbx/f/?aid=9461656&r=1)
Follow up with a phone call: Look Up Phone Numbers (http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt)
Example Text to use for Congress and Senate:
QUOTE
As your constituent and a fan of Internet radio, I was alarmed to learn that music royalty rates were recently determined by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) which, if enacted, would certainly silence most or all of my favorite online listening services. For most webcasters, this royalty rate represents more than 100% of their total revenues!
The shuttering of the webcasting industry would be a loss for not only independent business owners, but also for musical artists, for copyright owners, and for listeners like me who enjoy the wide variety of choices available via Internet radio.
I respectfully request that your office look into this matter and initiate action to prevent it. As the CRB rate decision is retroactive to January 1, 2006, please understand that time is of the essence -- as the immediate impact of this decision could silence many Internet radio stations forever.