Yesterday I reported about Clear Channel’s latest crime involving independent musicians and the payola agreement. In a nutshell, the FCC decided that it was unlawful for Clear Channel to use a pay-per-play structure that ensured the Big Record Companies would get plenty of airtime while independent and local music would be economically excluded. After a bit of research, I can see why the people at Future Of Music and various independent musicians/independent record labels are furious with the outcome of this agreement. ([More →])

SaveNetRadio.org has declared a Day of Silence for internet radio broadcast on Tuesday June 26th. The stations that participate will give listeners only a taste of what it will be like after July 15th if the increased royalty rate is upheld. Stations that go silent will likely include Pandora, Live 365, Yahoo LAUNCHcast, and MTV Online, and NPR member stations. These stations, plus others like AccuRadio, Radioio, Digitally Imported, Rhapsody and many more would be seriously impacted by retroactive royalty increases equal to 50-300% of the station’s current revenue income. In Rhapsody, Pandora and Live365’s cases, the increase would also penalize their multiple channels platform, causing rate increases equal to more than 1000% of their current revenue. 1000%! According to the RAIN (Radio And Internet Newsletter):

Webcasters will be alerting their listeners that “silence” is what Internet radio may sound like on or shortly after July 15th, the day on which 17 months’ worth of retroactive royalty increase payments are due to the SoundExchange collection organization under the terms of a recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision.

Read more about the situation on the RAIN website and check out SaveNetRadio.org for more options of what you - the listener, the musician, the dj, the webcaster - can do to help.

Look at the left sidebar here at HearingTest for 2 links for contacting your Senators and Representatives in Congress. The lins are under the title act!