Foo - Internet Radio - Day of Silence

They do seem to stand together!

Here's what Pandora has ...

http://www.pandora.com/



Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm sorry to say that today Pandora, along with most Internet radio sites, is going off the air in observance of a Day Of Silence. We are doing this to bring to your attention a disastrous turn of events that threatens the existence of Pandora and all of internet radio. We need your help.

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.

I'd like to ask you to call your Congressional representatives today and ask them to become co-sponsors of the bill. It will only take a few minutes and you can find your Congresspersons and their phone numbers by entering your zip code here.

Your opinion matters to your representatives - so please take just a minute to call.

Visit www.savenetradio.org to continue following the fight to Save Internet Radio.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.


-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

Damn, that sucks. On the upside, my internet radio is still going.

Why does DC control licensing fees over the interwebs? Shouldn't that be between the Labels and the stations?

That will work as well as not buying gas for one day, "to really show the oil Co. who's the boss".

I'm superpissed about it.

Why couldn't they have done this when I am busy, and not sitting around wondering where the music is?

That will work as well as not buying gas for one day, "to really show the oil Co. who's the boss".

Actually, I think you're wrong. If the internet radio sites shut down for the day, no, there'll be no impact on "price", like those oil scams claim, but that's not the intent. If internet radio fans can't find their music, they may be galvanized into action to call their congressmen or write letters thus getting Congress to act to change the law and put them on parity with the broadcast stations.

I'm not quite sure how they can change the rules retroactively and enforce that. That one's beyond me. But in the end, I think RIAA will be the losers here as they generate bad tastes and lose the airtime for their artists which, in theory, generate CD sales.

Oh well. One of these days, RIAA will get theirs.

Internet radio isn't a commodity that people buy and stock up on, where demand from a skipped day is made up the next. People need to realize that next month, unless something is done, there will be NO internet radio except for the big names.

And we all know what happened when the FCC allowed a few companies to own more than a certain number of analog radio stations in US cities.

Its a big concern, and likely a death of a major entertainment medium that isn't controlled by some mindless corporate drones come July.

sirius>internet radio. i love my s50

sirius>internet radio. i love my s50

But most others love their FREE radio.

The beauty of radio is that it can be picked up by anyone, almost everywhere for FREE.

Next thing you'll be buying is purified air... oh wait they already do that.

Or water- nope, not free anymore either.