The Internet has spawned many ingenious ideas since its conception, and for each creation there seems to be a legal battle against it. One of the strengths of the Internet is its wealth of information available to all who access it, and with that strength come those who seek to control it. Whether it is through getting rid of net neutrality or unfairly taxing Internet start-ups, the freedom of the Internet is constantly under pressure. The latest attack comes from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against Internet radio.
Internet radio stations are different from traditional stations, like what one may be used to hearing in the car. It generally caters to the listener or offers a much wider variety of domestic and international stations. Examples of such stations are the ever popular Pandora Radio and Live365. Pandora Radio gives a unique station for each user, depending on the user’s musical tastes. One can tell Pandora Radio if a song is good or bad, and the radio will change dependent upon the user’s choices. The user can also have multiple radio stations, which is where Pandora Radio is getting itself into trouble.
Early last year, Internet radio stations paid the same fee as conventional and satellite radio stations. That soon changed when the RIAA decided that Internet radio stations were required to pay nearly double the amount of fees per song played per listener, compared to the other types of radio.
The problem with this fee is that Internet radios on average play more songs with fewer listeners, due to their limited popularity against the massive amount of Internet radio stations available. Coupled with the fact that most Internet radio start ups were just figuring out how to generate limited revenue through use of advertisements, the situation does not bode well for the future of Internet radio.
Currently, the radio stations are going bankrupt. Nothing has been done to change the ruling of the RIAA even with added pressure, and rates are slated to go up even further by 2009. It seems the RIAA has been blinded by greed since accruing record losses through piracy and is seeking vengeance through other outlets. Unfortunately, the only effect this ruling seems to be having besides bankruptcy is the loss of domestic Internet radio. Many stations in the United States are now seeking to do business elsewhere to avoid costly fees.
Only time will tell how many will survive. Heaven forbid if we actually have to resort to a conventional radio receiver being placed on top of the monitor just to get a variety of legal tunes while surfing the web.