save internet radio!

As eMusic’s CEO David Pakman noted in his 17 Dots post about the future of DRM-free music, eMusic is a music retailer. Our job is to provide consumers with an easy, pleasant and affordable way to help people purchase music that they like, thereby supporting the artists who create music and the labels who distribute it. The key to this exchange perhaps more than any other is discovery: people need to be able to find ways to download the music that they like. Without proper venues of discovery and access, music would die. How else would we find stuff that we like?

There are many ways to discover artists, and one of the biggest is in serious danger. We are speaking, of course, about internet radio, one of the most vital ways for music consumers to discover music that they love. Due to a decision by the Copyright Royalties Board that will increase the cost of running an internet radio station anywhere from 300 to 1200 percent, its future is in serious doubt. Yesterday, Save Net Radio organized a national Day of Silence to raise awareness about this potentially disastrous decision. Here’s how they describe it:

The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger. Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). To protest these rates and encourage the millions of net radio listeners to take action and contact their Congressional representatives, today is a national Day of Silence. Webcasters across the country have dedicated this day to increasing awareness of this looming threat and gathering support for the SaveNetRadio collation and our campaign to preserve music diversity on-line. For an updated list of the participants in this national day of silence, visit http://www.kurthanson.com/dos/. Net radio listeners, please excuse the interruption of your normal programming and take action to ensure this silence is not permanent. Call your Congressional Representatives today.

Everything from Pandora to SomaFM will be seriously hurt by the decision. Here’s what Pandora founder Tim Westergren had to say on his company’s site:

Ignoring all rationality and responding only to the lobbying of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs. Pandora’s fees will triple, and are retroactive for eighteen months! Left unchanged by Congress, every day will be like today as internet radio sites start shutting down and the music dies.

A bill called the “Internet Radio Equality Act” has already been introduced in both the Senate (S. 1353) and House of Representatives (H.R. 2060) to fix the problem and save Internet radio — and Pandora — from obliteration.

In light of all of this, eMusic has made donations to Save Net Radio, KEXP, SomaFM and KCRW to help in this fight, as well as to support some of our favorite internet radio stations. But the real onus is on each of us music fans to call their congressional representative and ask them to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act. You can find your own representative here.

This is not a bunch of Chicken Little-ing. This is a real and urgent problem that will go into effect July 15th, and without the votes in place, one of the best ways to discover music will die. Please do your part and call your representative today.