The Boogeyman May Be Headed Our Way

That's right, while terrestrial broadcasters may benefit from the crippling of internet radio in the short term, Sound Exchange recently said it will look at terrestrial radio next. In the Washington Post, John Simson of Sound Exchange was asked why internet radio was being unfairly targeted, while terrestrial radio stations don't have to pay the large performance fees. His response :

"there's really no justification for broadcast radio not paying, and we're going to try to address that."

Yup. So, if your station is streaming online, you will be hit from fees on both sides of Sound Exchange has its way. It's not far-fetched to think that the rates for terrestrial broadcast would be even higher. They think internet radio broadcasters are getting rich - which is laughable. If internet broadcasting were so wildly profitable, why has radio been slow to adopt it?

Simson goes on, "Web radio is growing exponentially. These little stations develop a popular URL and then flip it and sell it for big money and the artists get nothing." If he thinks barely profitable internet streams are raking in cash, imagine what rates he'd think that a proven business like terrestrial radio could pay.

What to do?

Well, thankfully, Sound Exchange doesn't have the final say on this, although they do have weight to throw around. The final arbiter in this case will likely be Congress. They're also considering the XM and Sirius merger at the same time - so it is on their radar, especially with growing online campaigns to repeal the rate increases.

So we can talk about it on air, telling listeners that the online streams of your station they listen to at work will be cut off. We can ask out listeners to contact their Senators and Representatives. Or the Radio Industry can use some its power on Capitol Hill to get our voice heard.

However we do it, this decision needs to be stopped. Sound Exchange's logic is laughable, and even if we as an industry are not worried by the prospect of internet radio becoming a permanently non-viable proposition, we must be prepared - if we do not stop them now - to see them attempting to weigh down radio with the same outrageous rates.

As always, AllAccess has my “The Net Untangled Tip of the Day” each weekday and a column on Website Wednesdays. So check back and together we’ll get our internet presence focused on keeping radio strong in this world of increasing competition.

Do you agree with me? Or am I full of hot air? If you have comments or any questions about radio websites – either general questions relating to the industry or the web or even specific (HTML, PHP, .NET, Javascript, etc.) questions, send me an email through http://Preppermint.net/contact . I’ll answer your question quickly and maybe even use it for a future column.