Hear Here: Online Music Dammed Up Stream

It's official, after intense pressure from the Recording Industry Association of America, the wonks in Washington DC are effectively laying the smack down on internet radio and online independent music distribution. Surprise... surprise.

The US Copyright Royalty Board issued a ruling on April 16 denying motions submitted to reconsider higher royalty rates on streaming music - an industry with an ad revenue model still in its infancy.

Companies like online radio site Pandora have until May 15 before royalty rates increase between 300-1200 per cent. According to a press release issued by "The Save Net Radio Coalition", a group interested in protecting the programmatic diversity of online radio, "Without a doubt most Internet radio services will go bankrupt and cease webcasting if this royalty rate is not reversed by the Congress."

The coalition asks that the public sign their petition to protect streaming music.

Not only is this a blow to the net neutrality camp, but it is a blow to independent artists. According to the Alexis Harte Band, “If the goal is to help musicians earn a decent living, raising the internet royalty rates will likely have an adverse effect, as ironic as that sounds.”

Steaming listeners may find themselves musically bankrupt as early as this summer with only a handful of broadcasters capable of appeasing large labels and a few bastions of hope in groups such as UK-based station Last FM.

**Now might be a good time as a Canadian to work on that internet radio startup you were thinking about.

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