Labels to Net Radio: Die Now (Why RIAA wants to kill internet radio)

Newsweek ^ | July 15th issue | By Steven Levy

[Drew68]

Labels to Net Radio: Die Now

You’d think the record companies would love Internet tunes—instead they’re trying to kill them

By Steven Levy
NEWSWEEK

July 15 issue —  Jim Atkinson is cannon fodder in the digital-music wars. Five years ago he and his wife, Wanda, began 3WK, a virtual radio station that streams tunes of their beloved alt/indie rock to listeners over the Internet. Unlike broadcast radio, which requires astronomical investments in licenses and broadcast equipment, a Webcaster needs only software and a server.

THE RESULT IS A rich universe of more than 10,000 alternative Web stations, many of which cater to narrow if not bizarre tastes: from Hawaiian ukulele music to Tanzanian drumming.

It’s the exact opposite of broadcast radio, where the vast majority of stations are owned by a few media giants, who restrict playlists to the lowest-common-denominator ears. In the Webcast world, however, it’s possible for Jim and Wanda Atkinson to run one of the more popular sites—and one day, they hope, a profitable ad-supported business—by playing the tunes of, say, Dashboard Confessional. Possible, that is, until Oct. 20.

[general_re]

My prediction is that those who make music are going to earn most of their money from playing live.

Honestly, that's mostly the case now, given the structure of most recording contracts. Unless you're already huge and have a great deal of leverage to demand a big piece of the pie on your record sales, it's almost inevitable that you'll see more money from sales channels that you retain some control over. IIRC, it's not at all unusual for bands to make more money from t-shirt sales while on tour than they do from the actual album itself...