A Petition to Save Internet Radio

[Goonrick]

This is a forwarded message from the founder of Pandora Radio. Recently the Copyright Royalty Board rejected appeals to the March 2 ruling which placed royalties for internet radio broadcasters at 4X that of satellite radio broadcasters (a fee terrestrial radio does not have to pay). Needless to say, but the new pricing structure places costs far above revenues and internet radio as we know it will cease to exist as a result (not just independent stations either, as Yahoo and other 'big' players are under threat of having to shut down as a result of the ruling).

 

If you care anything at all about preserving the diversity of music available from internet broadcasting, please take the time to read the following message and follow the link within it to send your opinion to our state and national leaders:

 

 

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

 

I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

 

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.

 

Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio:

 

http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

 

 

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.

 

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential.

 

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

 

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.

 

 

-Tim Westergren

(Pandora founder)\ }

[daddysguitar]

Done and done.

[daddymack]

Ahhh...gotta love the RIAA...

signed, sealed and delivered.

Anyone who cares about diversity and keeping the music open to all, without undue censorship and control by the conglomerates should take the time to do this.

[SanDiego333]

I recieved the Pandora email too. Signed / sealed. This whole thing is totally effed up!!!