If you're a developer like me, you probably like listening to music while you code. I frequently listen to internet radio sites like http://www.pandora.com while I do my work, but recently there's been some trouble brewing.
In case you hadn't heard, the Copyright Royalty Board, is basically trying to force independent radio broadcasters, including National Public Radio, to pay outrageous royalties to broadcast music over the internet. This fee is upwards of 250% of what traditional radio stations pay as royalties.
The net effect is that many (most) small webcasters will be forced to discontinue their service because they will not be able to pay the unfair fees required to continue operations.
Well, thanks to your help and the internet "we the people" have taken a stand against this arbitrary ruling. Last week more than 200,000 Pandora listeners alone contacted their congressional representatives! The entire fax infrastructure on Capitol Hill ground to a halt. Faxes had to be delivered manually - literally boxes full of them were delivered to every office in the Capitol building.
The result has been swift and dramatic: more than a million people have already joined the cause! There is now a bill just being introduced called the "Internet Radio Equality Act" to fix the problem and save Internet radio -and Pandora- from obliteration.
If you value listening to radio, please go over to http://www.savenetradio.org/ and contact your representative asking them to co-sponsor H.R. 2060, the Internet Radio Equality Act. It only takes a second and they have everything you need on the website.
I strongly believe that internet radio will slowly become the primary distribution channel for all radio stations in the future. Think about it. Do you listen to XM or Sirius Radio? It's one way digital radio (one step away from internet radio). Do you play video games? Listening to the "radio" inside of a game would be those internet radio channels. You ever heard of "HD Radio"? That's digital radio, almost internet radio.
So let's stand together and tell congress what we want done about this. Stand up and voice your opinion! Don't let the record industry lobbyists maintain control over what you hear on the radio any longer. The internet is about choice and they are trying to legislate that choice away from us. Now is the time to stand up and take action. There's only a few more days that we have to take this opportunity, so act now.
Cheers!
:D