Labels: dan bull, riaa sucks

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? The wife is all over me about picking a costume, and the best thing I can can come up with is, "I just wanna be me!" That...will...not...do. Any ideas?

Today on BAGeL Radio we will feature brand-spanking new music from Flaming Lips (Norman, OK), The Authors (Montreal, Canada), CF Donohoe (Glasgow/Dallas), Clare & The Reasons (Brooklyn, NY), Exene Cervenka (X), Free Energy (Philadelphia, PA), The Ghost Is Dancing (Toronto, Canada), James Husband (Athens, GA), and Kurt Vile (Philadelphia, PA).

As always, your feedback on the latest playlist additions and whatever else is on your mind will be most appreciated Write to us at feedback@bagelradio.com, and please take the poll below. Also, I don't know how much longer I can bring myself to argue with "flat earthers" on the subject of radio's promotional value, but I felt the need to reply to a piece published in The Huffington Post that might as well come out of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) press office. The HuffPo didn't deem my edited-for-space comment worthy of publishing, so I published the comment as a whole here. Please read it and, whenever you hear "the music industry" aka the RIAA aka the major labels complain on behalf of artists, remember that "the "the music industry" aka the RIAA aka the major labels have been the vampires feasting on the blood of artists for decades.

Please tune in today and every Friday to 480 Minutes between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

Bay Area Gig eList (upcoming shows of interest): http://bagelradio.com/shows

Labels: "480 Minutes", riaa, riaa sucks

...yet even The Huffington Post gets connived into publishing RIAA talking points to the contrary.

Here is my unedited response to their Radio Will Stop Playing Music piece:

To claim that MTV had no promotional value is absurd. Artists whose videos were played on MTV were exposed to millions of consumers and, as a result, those artists sold more product than had MTV not played their video.

Back in MTV's heyday, the recording industry (aka the major labels) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on single promotional videos. That's what they were called: promotional. The major labels decided it was a good investment to spend big money to impress MTV to get the airplay to promote their products.

The same "airplay is promotional" has also long been true of radio, which is why for decades record labels illegally paid (payola) to get their records on the air. Labels gladly paid it. The fact that payola ever existed proves the point: labels paid radio to play and thereby promote their records.

You say: "the recording industry did not have strong enough lobbying power against the broadcasters in 1976 when the copyright law was amended."

Yeah, poor, out-moneyed recording industry! And then you continue, without irony, to state:

"Thankfully, the recording industry was smarter when it came to webcasters, satellite radio providers" as if those not-yet-in-existence in 1996 industries had a seat at the lobbying table when the Telecommunications Act to which you refer was created.

Finally, the misleading old: "people don't tune in to hear commercials." That's not even an argument, it's a misleading obfuscation. Commercials pay for operating costs. They are a necessity for free, over-the-air radio. Without advertising, free over-the-air radio would not exist. Listeners understand that. Do all music-loving radio-listeners (except advertisers) wish it could be all music, all the time? Sure. The terrestrial radio industry is simply not set up to work that way.

People tune in to hear music, and when they hear it on the radio, there is a chance listeners will go out and buy it, and maybe some t-shirts and other merchandise, and maybe buy a ticket to a live performance. If people don't hear it on the radio...they might not hear it at all. Where does that leave the artists?

Ted Leibowitz, BAGeL Radio

Labels: internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks

The CEO of The Orchard, which distributes music and video to online retailers, has requested formal inquiry of SoundExchange's business practices, Greg Scholl claims that his company's dealings with SoundExchange show "gross incompetence, or intentional neglect" on the part of the RIAA front group tasked with collecting royalties for digital music play and distributing those royalties to artists.

Read more at the Radio And Internet Newsletter.

Oh, it's so nice to hear others calling out the lying scoundrels at SoundExchange...for a change!

Labels: riaa, riaa sucks, soundexchange

From Kurt Hanson of AccuRadio:

The Internet radio royalty crisis may be coming to a head, as one of the country's most-beloved webcasters, Pandora, tells the Washington Post that it is on the verge of shutting down over the issue.

As you know, the problem in a nutshell is that whereas all other forms of radio in the U.S. and around the world pay about 3%-5% of their revenues as a royalty to songwriters and 0%-7% of their revenues as a royalty to labels and performers, last year the U.S.'s Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) set that second royalty rate for Internet radio to the equivalent of 70% to 300% of revenues.

While there's a judicial appeal of this decision in progress, plus occasional negotiations going on between SoundExchange (representing labels and musicians) and various subsets of webcasters, plus bills introduced in Congress that would roll back the CRB decision, none of these fixes may happen before Pandora's venture capitalists decide to give up and pull the plug on the service.

What are they thinking?!

I've been talking to several journalists this week about the issue, and the question they always ask me is this: "Trying to bankrupt your industry doesn't make any sense! WHY is SoundExchange doing this?"

Read Kurt's explanation here.

More from Kurt's blog post at Radio And Internet Newsletter:

If Pandora is forced to shut down, the outrage will be huge - among consumers, journalists, bloggers, working musicians, and even Congressional staffs.

That will be the tipping point that either (1) triggers a consumer backlash against the RIAA, which, if expressed in the form of a boycott, as some bloggers have proposed, could cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars in record sales, (2) leads to belated reasonable negotiations from SoundExchange, and/or (3) spurs Congress to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act.

But Pandora doesn't deserve to be the sacrificial lamb that keeps other webcasters alive. They're loved by millions of listeners, and they've been great for musicians, fair to labels, and generous to their fellow webcasters.

Either SoundExchange or Congress should act quickly enough to stave that outcome off.

Labels: internet radio equality act, pandora, riaa, riaa sucks, soundexchange

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Assuring Fair Rates and Rules across Platforms" did not go well for webcasters. Instead of discussing the merits of royalty rate platform parity (where webcasters would pay rates similar to satellite and cable radio), Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-RIAA) -- who always advocates for the Major Labels -- predictably wasted everyone's time pushing the PERFORM Act, legislation based on RIAA talking points.

PERFORM instists that internet radio stations are music distribution services (read: download), not performance services (which radio has always been considered), and as such internet radio should pay crazy high licensing fees for playing music. This premise is patently false and simply parrots an RIAA party line.

At the hearing a stooge from Geffen Records pulled a McCain, conflating internet radio with illegal file-sharing. And I quote, “The last time we had a technology…that was thought of as necessary for the industry, for the good of music, necessary for the good of the people, it was called Napster.”

Another poisonous part of the PERFORM Act requires that internet radio abandon MP3 streaming in favor of a crippled-by-DRM audio format. This also parrots an RIAA lie, one which suggests that music sales are down because internet radio fans are copying songs from streams and saving these files instead of buying music.

"Stream ripping" is hardly the reason music sales are down. Recordings of internet radio streams are very low-fidelity and contain songs that often bleed into one another due to cross-fading and sometimes have DJs talking over them. Recording internet radio is like when I was in junior high school and wanted to record that new Killing Joke single they were playing on WLIR -- I used to hit play/pause on my cassette deck. The resultant mix tapes were hardly a replacement for a record collection. Those mixes served to reinforce which albums I needed to go buy.

If anyone wants to know why people choose to share files instead of buying them, one needs to look no further than the results of recent decisions by both Yahoo! Music and Microsoft Music Network to close their digital doors rendering useless music files consumers thought they'd purchased (What? You thought you bought songs just because you clicked on a button that said "BUY" and then paid for them?! Silly consumers!). It should be noted that DRM was forced onto the retailers by the RIAA, and that music industry people now suggest that consumers who are pissed about their soon-to-evaporate music purchases should have read their End User License Agreements more closely. Seriously. That's the response. And they wonder why otherwise law-abiding folks might prefer to find illegal (but not DRM-crippled) files to download instead!

Several small webcasters submitted written statements to the Sentate Judiciary committee to make sure that we were heard from. Read our friend Rusty of SomaFM's statement here, and Kurt of AccuRadio's statement here.

Labels: copyright royalty board, internet radio equality act, PERFORM Act, riaa, riaa sucks

Yahoo! Music is closing it's store and because the music files sold through it were shackled with Digital Rights Management (DRM) all the tunes people thought they bought? Turns out it's more like they rented 'em. At some point after Y! shuts down the servers that authenticate the purchases, purchasers/renters/suckers will no longer be able to play the files they payed for on their computers. The announced shut down date is September 30th, 2008. Files will continue to work on the computer on which they were purchased after that date -- at least until the hard drive fails, or the operating system is changed.

Microsoft made a similar move earlier this year when it announced that the Microsoft Music Network would be shuttered.

The same is true for folks who "bought" music through other now-defunct online music stores like RealNetworks, Virgin, Sony Connect, Liquid Audio, and I'm sure others as well. This is yet one more way (in a long line of ways including price-fixing CDs in the 1990s) that the music industry continues to beg music consumers to steal music rather than pay for it.

Online retailers including Yahoo! Music advocated for DRM-free files which wouldn't be "expiring" due to stores closing their doors, but the once all-powerful but forever clueless record industry (aka the Major Labels, aka the RIAA) overruled them and forced their retail partners to cripple the product with DRM.

Nice going, guys!

Read more, including Yahoo! Music's message to customers, here.

Labels: riaa, riaa sucks

In a speech at MIDEM’s first International Manager Summit, U2's manager Paul McGuinness asserted that your Internet Service Provider should pay his band and their label part of their profits because the service ISPs provide allows people to illegally share music.

While this strategy to crack down on file sharing may be marginally better than the one employed by the RIAA (suing housewives, kids, grandmothers, and dead people), it still grossly misplaces fault and reassigns responsibility for the mess that is the recored music industry today.

Based on this speech, it would be hypocritical for Mr. McGuinness to not also champion the (equally absurd) idea that labels/artists should pay a surcharge to ISPs for the bandwidth used for each legal music download from iTunes, Amazon, whathaveyou.

I'm surprised to hear something this shortsighted blaring out of the U2 camp. Who do they think they are, Metallica?

Read McGuinness's (lengthy) MIDEM speech.

Labels: digital freedom, riaa, riaa sucks, U2

Ars Technica reports that EMI, one of the Big Four Labels, is considering cutting funding for recording industry trade groups -- including the RIAA.

The RIAA campaign of intimidation via lawsuits against file sharers has been a financial disaster and an even greater public relations disaster. This may be why EMI is considering reallocating the funds used by the RIAA to invade their customers' privacy, sue their target audience, sue dead people, collude on price-fixing, and make false and/or misleading statements.

Via it's front group SoundExchange the RIAA is also responsible for the precarious place (financially and legally) webcasting is in right now thanks to the ridiculous Copyright Royalty Rate hike on internet radio earlier this year.

If EMI pulls funding it would stand to reason that the rest of the Big Four would follow suit. Could this mean the end, or at least the declawing, of the winner of the 2007 Worst Company In America award, The RIAA? I'm not getting my hopes up, but man does that thought make me smile.

A tip of the headphones to Ars Technica via Gizmodo via State Of The Day.

Labels: copyright royalty board, crb, HR 2060, internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks, savenetradio.org, soundexchange

Some people deny Global Warming. The rest of us know that it is a real and dangerous phenomenon that needs to be dealt with it.

Some people (the RIAA and it's front groups) deny that exposing music via airplay has promotional value. The rest if us know that these denials are lies, and these people prove daily that they are lying by continuing to spend millions promoting music to radio. Here's a new strategy that counters the BS denials. I like a lot:

A bipartisan resolution recognizing the promotional value of free radio airplay was introduced last week in the U.S. House of Representatives. The resolution was introduced by Reps. GENE GREEN (D-TX) and MIKE CONAWAY (R-TX) and cosponsored by 51 additional members of Congress.

"Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over-the-air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings," read House Concurrent Resolution 244.

Commenting on the resolution's introduction, NAB EVPO DENNIS WHARTON said, "NAB salutes Reps. GREEN and CONAWAY and their House colleagues for formally recognizing radio airplay's enormous value to both record labels and recording artists. The undeniable fact is that radio airplay is a musician's greatest promotional tool and generates millions of dollars in revenue annually for RIAA-member companies and performers."

It's nice having the NAB on our side.

Meanwhile SoundExchange, the front group for the RIAA (which is a front group for the major record labels) recently proposed that cable radio pay a copyright royalty fee of less than 7.5% of their revenue. SoundExchange strongly opposes the Internet Radio Equality Act, which calls for almost exactly the same copyright royalty rate for internet radio. Why the discrepancy?

Webcasters would jump at a deal like this, yet it is not being offered to us. SoundExchange continues to insist that it is negotiating in good faith. It's kinda like the Bush administration feigning disapproval of the FEMA tactic of holding a fake news conference.

From SaveNetRadio.org:

The SaveNetRadio Campaign today expressed surprise and hope upon learning that SoundExchange has formally proposed that cable radio services pay royalties between 7.25% and 7.5% of their revenue to sound recording copyright owners and recording artists. This proposed rate, effective from 2008 to 2012, is virtually identical to rates endorsed by more
than 140 cosponsors of the Internet Radio Equality Act, but rejected by SoundExchange and the Recording Industry Association of America.

"Perhaps this agreement means that SoundExchange agrees that 7.5% of revenue is a fair rate; they just prefer that the rate not be legislated," Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio campaign said. "The Internet radio industry has never asked for more than royalty parity and an opportunity to grow their businesses to the benefit of artists, consumers, and even record labels. Perhaps SoundExchange's agreement that cable radio should pay 7.5% of revenue is a precursor to an equivalent offer for Internet radio services. It is hard to imagine that recording industry interests would continue to reject Congressional legislation and webcasters' efforts to set fair royalty rates while simultaneously agreeing to the same standard for cable radio services."

The Internet Radio Equality Act -- H.R. 2060 and S. 1353 -- would vacate the March 2nd Copyright Royalty Board's decision and set a 2006-2010 royalty rate at a competitive level with royalties paid by cable and satellite radio services (7.5% of revenue.) The bill would also change the royalty rate-setting standard used in royalty arbitrations, so that the standard applied to webcasters would align with that applied to cable and satellite radio.

Wouldn't it be something if the little guys finally forced a little fairness out of the big guys?

Labels: HR 2060, internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks, S 1353, savenetradio.org, soundexchange

(the press release below goes out in concert with SaveNetRadio, along with the 12 signatory internet radio stations -- my version of this was a little harsher, but I agree with everything in this version. -Ted)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Webcasters Stand Firm

Deal With Us In Good Faith or No Deal!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - Thousands of webcasters stand firm by rejecting the most recent Copyright Royalty Rate proposal made by SoundExchange. The latest take it or leave it "offer" made by SoundExchange on behalf of the recording industry has done nothing to further negotiations with webcasters, and a mere 24 small webcasters have felt they had no choice but to give in to the record labels demands.

"The latest proposal made by SoundExchange is extremely disappointing, at a time where we need real progress, not hollow tricks." SaveNetRadio spokesperson Jake Ward said. "While the clock continues to tick for webcasters, SoundExchange continues to play games with their good faith The resounding rejection of this offer should serve as a reminder to SoundExchange, and to Congress, that the webcasting community is intent on a lasting and fair resolution to this issue, and willing to fight for it."

We, the undersigned have made it very clear to the Sound Exchange exactly why this latest offer is unrealistic and unacceptable. Its terms are not viable for webcasters seeking to run profitable businesses. One such term is the newly added ATH (Aggregate Tuning Hour) cap which immediately makes many mid-level webcasters ineligible for the recently presented agreement. For stations with revenues far below the $1.25 million cap, but with healthy listener bases, this ATH cap forces payments at the CRB rates.

This deal is not feasible for anyone who wants to grow their business. It contains the aforementioned $1.25 million revenue cap, which limits growth and puts in place a dangerously low hard ceiling for revenue generation. The Small Business Administration revenue cap for over-the-air broadcasters to be considered a small business is $6.5 million - this would seem a fair cap, with precedent.

Also, the offer only covers copyright holders that are SoundExchange members, of which there are approximately 20,000. Between us, the undersigned webcasters played far more artists than that in the last year. Under the SoundExchange offer for artists not on that limited roster, webcasters would have to pay at the bankruptcy-level rates, which were set in the fatally flawed Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling in March. Those CRB rates were condemned by webcasters, the press, and members of Congress and deemed as wildly out of line and detrimental to all parties concerned - including the RIAA.

We have asked for a reasonable, long term solution, not one that is subject to increase at the whim of the record industry every five years. 2010 is little more than 2 years away, and it would be difficult for any business owner to accurately forecast profits and build a successful business model with a huge expense variable looming in the future.

Although several of the webcasters listed below are currently involved in direct negotiations with Sound Exchange, the process remains exceedingly slow and increasingly unpromising. In the continuing absence of a genuine offer that would allow internet radio to continue to be the vital medium for new music discovery we implore our listeners and fans of internet radio to continue to urge your legislative representatives to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act (HR2060, S.1353).

For information on how you can contact your representative, please visit http://www.savenetradio.org.

Signed:

Jeff Bachmeier, .977
Val Starr, GotRadio.com, 100hitz.com
Rusty Hodge, Somafm.com
Rick White, Big R Radio
Donnie Mowbray, 181.fm
Kurt Hanson, AccuRadio
Dave Landis, Ultimate 80’s
Bill Goldsmith, Radio Paradise
Ted Leibowitz, BAGeL Radio
Sal Amato, Dot1media
Brandon Casci, LoudCity
Jim & Wanda Atkinson, 3WK
Ari Shopat, Digitally Imported
Mike Roe, Radio IO

Labels: riaa sucks

This week SoundExchange, the organization created to disperse royalty payments from internet radio to artist, unveiled a new settlement offer to small webcasters. This "offer" is a joke. For a small webcaster looking to strike a fair deal it is completely useless.

The offer is a smokescreen intended to make it appear to Congress, the media, and the public that the RIAA is negotiating in good faith with webcasters. Perhaps the pre-recess threat by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) to bring the Internet Radio Equality Act to the Senate floor inspired this latest non-starter of an offer.

Such an offer is also part of a divide and conquer strategy -- webcasters big and small, interactive and non-interactivem have remained largely united in this fight. Now that the RIAA (through it's front group SoundExchange, through it's front group musicFIRST) is trying to extend this performance royalty fee to terrestrial radio, the coalition will grow in both size and power. I look forward to having the National Association of Broadcasters on our side in this battle.

Back to the "offer" at hand:

*SoundExchange insists on an annual revenue cap of $1.25 million to define "small webcaster." The revenue cap for over-the-air broadcasters to be considered a small business is $6.5 million -- why such a disparity? Why any disparity?

What this revenue cap effectively does is punish successful internet radio stations for being ...successful! If Webcaster A has revenues of $1,249,999.99 million, Webcaster A pays a percentage of that revenue to SoundExchange and stays in business. If Webcaster B earns $1 more than Webcaster A, the royalty rates increase to those set in the fatally flawed March 2, 2007 Copyright Royalty Board rate hike. Webcaster B would owe more in this one fee than was earned all year, which puts Webcaster B in debt and out of business. Damn that extra dollar earned.

This is SoundExchange insisting that webcasters accept a disincentive to grow as part of the deal.

*The SoundExchange offer only covers the music of its 20,000 members, not the hundreds of thousands of recording artists getting played on internet radio, so if webcasters play anything by anyone not on their member list, the bankruptcy-level Copyright Royalty Board rates come back into play.

*This settlement offer sunsets in 2010, at which time webcasters will have to go through all of this again and not be allowed to mention this deal as precedent when the RIAA once again attempts to gouge and ultimately control what gets played on internet radio.

Please, Congress: re-write the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or section 114 of copyright law, to update the misguided provisions written into law over a decade ago (which is forever in computer chronology -- most people didn't even have at-home access to the internet in 1998!).

Update (8/23): an interesting take on the motives for the recent SoundExchange smokescreen.

Labels: copyright royalty board, crb, house of representatives, HR 2060, internet radio equality act, musicFIRST, riaa, riaa sucks, S 1353, soundexchange

Snippets from my cell phone-composed piece (oh, the photo above of the Capitol was taken with my phone, too!) in The Tripwire:

Along with Rusty Hodge and Elise Nordling of SomaFM and Corey Denis of Reapandsow, I traveled to Washington DC this week to talk with members of Congress about saving independent internet radio from copyright royalty rate ruin.

Congress does not want to be involved in this battle. They want to see a settlement reached between SoundExchange and webcasters.

Meanwhile, we attended a House subcommittee hearing [Tuesday] on the new battle to extend the artist performance royalty to terrestrial radio, which has been exempted from this fee since the 1920's. This is potentially devastating news for over-the-air radio. SoundExchange (which is front for the widely-reviled RIAA, whom is a front for the mainly foreign-owned and also widely-reviled conglomerations that own the major record labels) showed up en masse under the guise of The musicFIRST Coalition, the group responsible for this push to get over-the-air radio stations to pay labels for the right to promote their artists for them.

The opening statements from the committee members made it clear that...[t]errestrial radio will soon be paying a performance royalty every time a song airs. Committee chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) indicated that he would be leading the charge for the royalty. Berman chairs the House Intellectual Property subcommittee and opened the proceedings with, "I've wanted to hold this hearing for a very long time, not only because of my constituents but because as a policy matter it is time for Congress to re-evaluate the limitations of the current performance right for sound recordings."

Witness Sam "Soul Man" Moore brought up the topic of older artists who are struggling to make ends meet in their old age. Mr. Moore and others suggested that the radio stations who promoted these artist's records are to blame, and not perhaps the record labels who paid them pennies on the dollar (if that) for their hit records.

Congress might want to consider Joyce Moore's (wife and manager of Sam) words from just three years ago: "Sam was told his pension would be $63.67 a month," says Joyce Moore, his wife and manager. "It should have been $8,000. It's wrong, and it all ties back to royalties. From 1965 to 1992, Atlantic contributed not one penny to Sam's pension. The whole problem is accounting and accountability. We know the labels don't know how to count except
when it comes to their own money."

Referencing the same misplaced blame, Paul Hodes of New Hampshire told of his experience meeting an African American artist who'd had a successful radio hit but who had been paid for his troubles only "$50 and a bottle of Scotch." To Mr. Hodes blame for the result of this exploitation by a record label and poor judgment (and/or desperation) of the recording artist was the fault of radio. Huh? What?

One of the few reasonable opinions given to dispel that myth came from Florida Republican Ric Keller who did his homework by calling a Program Director of a station in his district in Orlando. The PD told him that labels call him daily begging him to play their songs. Another came from San Jose representative Zoe Lofgren who set herself apart from the rest of the committee by not repeating a single RIAA talking point.

In the sky is not falling department, Mr. Berman included caveats regarding imposing this fee: "One is that by extending this right it does not diminish the rights and revenues of the creators of musical works and second, that terrestrial broadcasters, large and small, remain a viable source of music." The latter caveat might suggest that Mr. Berman disapproves of the crippling Copyright Royalty Board rate hike imposed on internet radio.

The only radio representative amongst the five witnesses was Radio Board Second Vice Chair Chester Warfield Jr. of ICBC Broadcast Holdings. Warfield held his own throughout sticking to the National Association of Broadcasters message that the system ain't broke, why fix it.

Read the piece in it's entirety on The Tripwire (free registration required), or go to Intellectual Property Watch or FMBQ for more.

Labels: riaa sucks

If you haven't been keeping up on the internet radio vs. RIAA battle, check out my Monday and Wednesday blog posts.

Much fun will be had this Sunday (7/22) at Bottom of the Hill when BAGeL Radio presents... Division Day! We love that band. Buy tickets right here, and tune in today to hear some not-yet-released new Division Day songs as well as a chance to win a pair of tickets to the show this Sunday.

Today's show will feature a new music from (duh!) Division Day, Truxton, Simple Kid, Subliminal Boys, Bleach03, Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, O'Death, North Elementary, The Manchester Orchestra, Prince, plus a coupla more nuggets from the Maxïmo Park and Modest Mouse albums. It's hard to believe that even now, in the dead of summer, there's this much quality brand new stuff -- over 20 new songs again this week . It's staggering.

Also featured today will be a recurring theme. Instead of a theme set today's playlist will be sprinkled with songs from eponymous non-debut albums that didn't suck (greatest hits albums do not count).

Please tune in, "480 Minutes" runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, and as always you can request songs:

e-mail: feedback@bagelradio.com
Yahoo IM: bagelradio
AOL/iChat: bagelradiolive
MSN Msgr: bagelradio@hotmail.com
GoogleTalk: bagelradio@gmail.com

Recent Gig Photos:

The Heavenly States/ Magic Bullets
@ The Independent 7/13/07

The Heavenly States


Magic Bullets

Upcoming Bay Area Gigs of Interest:

BAGeL Radio Presents...

Division Day
Ariel Mile
Truxton

@ Bottom of the Hill 7/22

*Smashing Pumpkins @ The Fillmore 7/22, 24*, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 & 8/1

Tokyo Police Club/ Dappled Cities @ Independent 7/23

Queens of the Stone Age @ The Senator Theatre 7/24

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone @ Bottom of the Hill 7/25

*Buffalo Tom @ Great American 7/25
Tears For Fears @ Mountain Winery 7/25
The Cribs @ Slim's 7/25

Bishop Allen/ Page France @ Independent 8/1
Rentals/ Copeland/ Goldenboy @ GAMH 8/1
Lee Scratch Perry/ Dub is a Weapon @ Independent 8/4&5

BAGeL Radio Presents...
The Otherside
Bears
Slings
@ Elbo Room 8/6

One of BAGeL Radio's favorite San Francisco bands, THE OTHERSIDE play psychedelic shoegaze. Imagine The Byrds smoking peyote with Ride and Interpol -- the contact high is worth the price of admission. Fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Stone Roses will love THE OTHERSIDE.

All the way from Cleveland OH. -- it's BEARS, in their first-ever San Francisco show! Fans of The Shins, Peter Bjorn & John, and Camera Obscura will love BEARS' catchy indie pop.

SLINGS, an OC via Gainsville FL. band, open the show with their Yo La Belle & Garfunkel Neutral Milk wash of campfire melodies backed with acoustic guitar, xylophone, melodica, and accordian sounds.

Colin Hay (Men At Work)/ Megan Slankard @ Independent 8/9

Psychic TV @ Independent 8/24

more upcoming shows

Labels: "480 Minutes", riaa sucks

As previously reported here, last Thursday the four mega-conglomerate major labels (under the pseudonym SoundExchange) agreed to allow webcasters to continue to pay royalties at the pre-CRB rates past the July 15th deadline if we continued to negotiate new rates in good faith. Just hours later the major labels started negotiating in bad faith by introducing an unreasonable post-agreement condition -- that webcasters invent and impose digital rights management (DRM) technology on our streams that will prevent stream-ripping (copying).

It is impossible to negotiate an reasonable agreement when one side keeps moving the goal posts. Under these conditions the current efforts towards a settlement are pointless -- this is precisely why we need the Internet Radio Equality Act passed. We must fix the source of this problem, namely the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which opened up this copyright royalty loophole way back (1998) before anyone knew what internet radio would look like. Only then will webcasting be safe from the digilliterate dinosaurs whose idea of saving the movie industry was outlawing VCRs.

Besides the issue of bad faith negotiations, the major labels' DRM demand is a red herring, something that distracts attention from the real issue. For me and others I know, stream-ripping is used to time-shift programs. Like when people record a TV show on a VCR or DVR so it can be enjoyed some other time, people use stream-rippers to record their favorite internet radio shows like my (shameless plug!) award-winning "480 Minutes" program, Fridays, 9am - 5pm Pacific Time.

Copying internet radio is the a lot like copying FM radio in three main ways -- it is really easy to do, the resulting recording is lousy, and (with current technology) it is impossible to stop.

Wait! I have an idea! If the major labels can convince over-the-air radio to invest in and invent a way to prevent the recording of FM radio, webcasters will do the same for internet radio. Over-the-air radio has a 30+ year head start on us, and that still sounds fair.

Jokes aside, if anyone is willing to build a music library by copying my 64kbps stream (CDs are 320kbps) well, those few folks weren't ever going to fork over $18.98 for the new White Stripes CD, anyway. Keep in mind too that, like those mixed tapes I used to make from WLIR by leaving the record and pause buttons pressed on my boom box in the 80s, these recordings will include cross-fades between songs, public service announcements, and DJs yapping over top of them.

Despite the major labels' efforts to pin fault for their failing business model on webcasters, it is apparent to just about everyone (inluding the promotions departments at the major labels!) that airplay on internet radio promotes artists. If not us, then who could be responsible for the decline in sales? Perhaps CD sticker-shock all these years later has something to do with declining sales. Had the majors not colluded to price-fix CDs throughout the 1990s when music sales and profits were through the roof, maybe people would feel more guilty about stealing music from them? Sounds plausible.

Read the DiMA reaction to this latest major label sidestep, and check out how quickly things can turn ugly.

Labels: copyright royalty board, cr, crb, HR 2060, internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks, soundexchange

The July 15th due date for collection of the new crippling copyright royalty rates has come and gone. SoundExchange has promised not to collect these fees for an unspecified period while a fair rate is negotiated. The public statements from SoundExchange (aka the RIAA, aka the major labels) spokespeople have been inconsistent and sometimes contradictory, which is worrisome from an organization we hope is negotiating in good faith. The fact that late last week the subject of imposing Digital Rights Management restrictions on streaming media suddenly became part of the SoundExchange demands is troubling, to say the least.

While hundreds of stations have decided to go dark, BAGeL Radio and many other webcasters (including our good friends SomaFM, Pandora, AccuRadio, and Live365) have decided to continue broadcasting through this precarious period. Personally, I feel like we are still looking down the barrel of a gun -- at any moment negotiations could break down and that gun could go off.

Short term and disparate deals may seem attractive because the industry has been placed into such peril, but such deals will only leave us back in this very same situation before long. Check out this article about copyright royalty rates from five years ago -- it reads much like recent news articles on the subject. No one wants to go through this again in another 18 months, or even 5 years -- who wants to invest their time (and money) in a venture standing on such uncertain footing? We need a more permanent solution.

Thanks in large part to the SaveNetRadio coalition we have made great progress in educating government officials, artists, the mainstream media, and listeners about this issue. Most people now realize that if the RIAA gets its way, the vast majority of artists ("dead webcasters pay no royalties"), listeners (vast decrease in stations to choose from), and (obviously) webcasters all lose. This now common knowledge, reflected in the media coverage and in the outpouring of support from internet radio listeners, has given our side great momentum.

We will use this momentum to continue our fight to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act (HR 2060). SoundExchange may continue to cloud the issue with smokescreens (CD sales are down, it must be internet radio's fault) and falsehoods (webcasters make money from music but don't pay royalties), and we will remain vigilant in challenging and exposing these misleading statements. Only when it is protected by law will internet radio be safe from the huge corporations which already control so much of the music industry and seek to dominate the rest.

We're still streaming. Thanks for listening.

Update: Read another take on the current situation.

Labels: copyright royalty board, crb, internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks, savenetradio.org, soundexchange

The good news is July 15th (this Sunday) is no longer the drop-dead date for internet radio. According to Eliot Von Buskirk's WIRED blog, a SoundExchange executive promised before Congress on Thursday "that SoundExchange will not enforce the new royalty rates. Webcasters will stay online, as new rates are hammered out."

Perhaps the webcaster cry, "Dead Webcasters Pay No Royalties" was a concept too simple and direct to ignore.

Of course, earlier in the day SoundExchange issued a press release (sorry, it's a PDF, not a web page) stating that "the Copyright Royalty Judges got it right when they set the [new] royalty rates" and a SoundExchange representative announced that the new rates were "etched in stone." Ummmm...if the Copyright Royalty Judges indeed "set fair rates of compensation," and the rates have been codified, why has the collector of these rates backed away from collecting them here in the 11th hour?

The sleazy RIAA, the organization behind the effort to snuff out independent internet radio, is still looking to screw over artists and consumers alike (the new White Stripes CD comes with a list price of $18.98 -- talk about an industry being it's own worst enemy by confirming customer fears!). Had the SaveNetRadio coalition not effectively mobilized webcasters and listeners alike, internet radio would have been left with three choices: pay the bankruptcy-level new rates; continue to broadcast without paying the new rates (illegally, that is); or cut direct deals with the labels, thereby (a) cutting the artists completely out of the picture and (b) giving the labels tremendous influence over what gets played (not unlike the power that has homogenized most over the air radio playlists into bland, boring, lowest-common-denominator meaninglessness).

Stay tuned, somehow methinks this battle is not over just yet.

Today's show will feature a new, exclusive-to-BAGeL Radio track by Loquat. It's an intimate acoustic-y version of "Shaky Like The Flu," a song that will appear in it's full form on Loquat's forthcoming as-yet-untitled sophomore album. The show will also feature Earlimart, it's first-ever Chinese acts (Lonely China Day and Rebuilding The Rights of Statues), plus new Yeah Yeah Yeahs, John Vanderslice, The Born Again Floozies, Holler Wild Rose!, Sweetwater Abilene, and Editors. Finally, there will be selections from an excellent new compilation of Bay Area artists lovingly curated by the folks at The Bay Bridged. Artists on the compilation (The Bay Bridged, Volume 1) include BAGeL Radio playlist veterans Love Is Chemicals, The Dont's, Peloton, Finest Dearest, and The Old-Fashioned Way.

Please tune in, "480 Minutes" runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, and as always you can request songs:

e-mail: feedback@bagelradio.com
Yahoo IM: bagelradio
AOL/iChat: bagelradiolive
MSN Msgr: bagelradio@hotmail.com
GoogleTalk: bagelradio@gmail.com

Upcoming Bay Area Gigs of Interest:

*The Heavenly States/Magic Bullets/ others @ The Independent 7/13

*Loquat/ Rondo Brothers/ Foxtail Somersault @ Independent 7/14

*Rockin The Colonies Tour featuring Psychedelic Furs / The Alarm / The Fixx @ Mezzanine 7/15

Shout Out Louds @ Rickshaw Stop 7/18

Oh No! Oh My!/ Let's Go Sailing @ Independent 7/18

The Bird and the Bee @ Independent 7/19

Sonic Youth - a Special Performance of Daydream Nation @ Berkeley Community Center 7/19

BAGeL Radio Presents...

Division Day
Ariel Mile
Truxton

@ Bottom of the Hill 7/22

*Smashing Pumpkins @ The Fillmore 7/22, 24*, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 & 8/1

Tokyo Police Club/ Dappled Cities @ Independent 7/23

*Buffalo Tom @ Great American 7/25

Bishop Allen/ Page France @ Independent 8/1
Lee Scratch Perry/ Dub is a Weapon @ Independent 8/4&5

BAGeL Radio Presents...
The Otherside
Bears
Slings
@ Elbo Room 8/6

One of BAGeL Radio's favorite San Francisco bands, THE OTHERSIDE play psychedelic shoegaze. Imagine The Byrds smoking peyote with Ride and Interpol -- the contact high is worth the price of admission. Fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Stone Roses will love THE OTHERSIDE.

All the way from Cleveland OH. -- it's BEARS, in their first-ever San Francisco show! Fans of The Shins, Peter Bjorn & John, and Camera Obscura will love BEARS' catchy indie pop.

SLINGS, an OC via Gainsville FL. band, open the show with their Yo La Belle & Garfunkel Neutral Milk wash of campfire melodies backed with acoustic guitar, xylophone, melodica, and accordian sounds.

Colin Hay (Men At Work)/ Megan Slankard @ Independent 8/9

Psychic TV @ Independent 8/24

more upcoming shows

Labels: riaa sucks

Kurt Hanson of RAIN reasons that the actual goal of SoundExchange, which represents/ fronts for the RIAA, which represents/ fronts for the four major labels (EMI, Warner, Sony-BMG, and Universal), is bad for most artists and lables. If their current strategy of hiking statutory licenses to bankruptcy levels takes root, radio of all shapes and sizes will be forced to cut direct deals with the labels. This will (a) cut the artists out of their share of monies collected, (b) give the major labels say over which stations can and cannot stay on the air, and (c) create a "reverse payola" situation by offerring certain of their artists to stations "royalty free" if the stations agree to play the labels' prirority records.

Read all about it in Kurt's excellent essay on the subject.

Labels: copyright royalty board, crb, internet radio equality act, riaa sucks, soundexchange

Big thanks to everyone who worked on and supported the SaveNetRadio.org benefit -- it was a fun and well-attended event that raised funds and educated folks on what's about to happen to internet radio. If you don't know why you will soon no longer be able to find your favorite internet radio station when you log on in the morning, read this summary.

Not to be overly dramatic, but honestly folks, this could be the second to last "480 Minutes" ever if the Copyright Royalty Board rate hike is not reversed. The RIAA is negotiating in bad faith with representatives of the webcasting community, and appears to have no intention of striking anything resembling a long-term, mutually acceptable deal.

Moving right along, today's new music will include new Interpol, Spoon, The 1990's, Eastern Conference Champions (album), and Of Montreal, Oh No! Oh My!, The Lovemakers, Okkervil River, and Two Gallants. Note to the RIAA: these releases were all sent by record labels or radio promo companies hired by labels to promote the releases.

There will also be some new Smashing Pumpkins, who have a new album on shelves for the first time since Y2K. For someone who was a big fan of both Gish and Siamese Dream, this new one is a disappointment. Short on memorable songs, variety of sounds, and guitar hooks, yet full of 80s metal riffing (as opposed to the 70s prog-rock noodling of earlier SP), Zeitgeist is outclassed on almost every level by Silversun Pickups, a Los Angeles band that unabashedly takes direction from those first two Punkins albums. There are songs here that any Smashing Pumpkins fan will like. I cannot imagine many will find the overall product anywhere near worth the wait.

On the other hand, the new Interpol record delivers. Although I liked the first album I was skeptical because it was so Joy Division it hurt. Antics was more believable and I liked it even more than Turn on the Bright Lights. On Our Love to Admire Interpol reveal the rest of their late 70s early 80s influences -- The Psychedelic Furs, Gang of Four, Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen, Magazine, u2, Simple Minds, The Cure, Kitchens of Distinction and, of course, Joy Division. (Today's program will feature songs from all 10 of those bands). Quite the treasure trove of interesting sounds...Interpol wear them on their sleeves, and they wear them well. The album is not perfect -- there is an obvious clunker that the band will regret having included (if they don't already) -- but this is a strong overall effort that will both please existing fans and win the band many, many new ones.

Please tune in, "408 Minutes" runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, and as always you can request songs:

e-mail: feedback@bagelradio.com
Yahoo IM: bagelradio
AOL/iChat: bagelradiolive
MSN Msgr: bagelradio@hotmail.com
GoogleTalk: bagelradio@gmail.com

Recent Gig Photos:
SaveNetRadio.org Benefit Event 7/1/07

Chris of The Morning Benders @ Bottom of the Hill

Upcoming Bay Area Gigs of Interest:

Melt Banana/ Replicator @ Independent 7/6

*Loquat/ Rondo Brothers/ Foxtail Somersault @ Independent 7/14

*Rockin The Colonies Tour featuring Psychedelic Furs / The Alarm / The Fixx @ Mezzanine 7/15

Shout Out Louds @ Rickshaw Stop 7/18

Oh No! Oh My!/ Let's Go Sailing @ Independent 7/18

The Bird and the Bee @ Independent 7/19

Sonic Youth - a Special Performance of Daydream Nation @ Berkeley Community Center 7/19

BAGeL Radio Presents...

Division Day
Ariel Mile
Truxton

@ Bottom of the Hill 7/22

*Smashing Pumpkins @ The Fillmore 7/22, 24*, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 & 8/1

Tokyo Police Club/ Dappled Cities @ Independent 7/23

*Buffalo Tom @ Great American 7/25

Bishop Allen/ Page France @ Independent 8/1
Lee Scratch Perry/ Dub is a Weapon @ Independent 8/4&5

BAGeL Radio Presents...
The Otherside
Bears
Slings
@ Elbo Room 8/6

One of BAGeL Radio's favorite San Francisco bands, THE OTHERSIDE play psychedelic shoegaze. Imagine The Byrds smoking peyote with Ride and Interpol -- the contact high is worth the price of admission. Fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Stone Roses will love THE OTHERSIDE.

All the way from Cleveland OH. -- it's BEARS, in their first-ever San Francisco show! Fans of The Shins, Peter Bjorn & John, and Camera Obscura will love BEARS' catchy indie pop.

SLINGS, an OC via Gainsville FL. band, open the show with their Yo La Belle & Garfunkel Neutral Milk wash of campfire melodies backed with acoustic guitar, xylophone, melodica, and accordian sounds.

Colin Hay (Men At Work)/ Megan Slankard @ Independent 8/9

Psychic TV @ Independent 8/24

more upcoming shows

Labels: "480 Minutes", riaa sucks

This week's 480 Minutes missive must begin with the news that once again BAGeL Radio finds itself in the news. I was on the 6 o'clock news last night. Seriously. Read the story and/or watch the video here.

If you don't know what the big to do is, read my summary of what's going on with internet radio/ the CRB/ SoundExchange/ The RIAA and how this has lead to BAGeL Radio appearing in the news a bunch lately, read this blog post.

And now to the important stuff...the music! Today's "480 Minutes" program will include new songs by The White Stripes (the album is amazing!), Gogol Bordello, The Polyphonic Spree, The Icarus Line, and a selection of John Lennon covers from the Instant Karma-Save Darfur compilation put out by Amnesty International. Artists include The Flaming Lips, U2, Jaguares, and Green Day. Today's program will also feature the stuff from last week that I didn't get to play (ah, technical difficulties) including Airiel, Arks, The Foundry Field Recordings, Pants Pants Pants, The Beasts of Eden, Block, Panters, and Sean Na Na.

Please tune in, the program runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, and don't forget you can request songs:

e-mail: feedback@bagelradio.com
Yahoo IM: bagelradio
AOL/iChat: bagelradiolive
MSN Msgr: bagelradio@hotmail.com
GoogleTalk: bagelradio@gmail.com

Recent Gig Photos:

Was too busy being King of All Media (Howard who?) to go to shows.

Upcoming Bay Area Gigs of Interest:

*Tarwater @ Bottom of the Hill 6/22

*The National @ Bimbo's 6/27

*The Veils @ Cafe du Nord 6/28

BAGeL Radio, SomaFM, SonicLiving, reapandsow, and Bottom of the Hill Present...
SaveNetRadio.org benefit featuring Ted of The Heavenly States/ Matt Lutz of The Herms/ HIJK, Miyako of Peloton, a very special surprise musical guest plus raffles with crazy cool prizes and bake sale and chili and drink specials @ Bottom of the Hill 7/1

Band of Horses @ Great American 7/5

Melt Banana/ Replicator @ Independent 7/6

*Loquat/ Rondo Brothers/ Foxtail Somersault @ Independent 7/14

*Rockin The Colonies Tour featuring Psychedelic Furs / The Alarm / The Fixx @ Mezzanine 7/15

Shout Out Louds @ Rickshaw Stop 7/18

Oh No! Oh My!/ Let's Go Sailing @ Independent 7/18

The Bird and the Bee @ Independent 7/19

Sonic Youth - a Special Performance of Daydream Nation @ Berkeley Community Center 7/19

BAGeL Radio Presents...
Division Day/ TBA/ Truxton @ Bottom of the Hill 7/22

*Smashing Pumpkins @ The Fillmore 7/22, 24*, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 & 8/1

Tokyo Police Club/ Dappled Cities @ Independent 7/23

*Buffalo Tom @ Great American 7/25

Bishop Allen/ Page France @ Independent 8/1
Lee Scratch Perry/ Dub is a Weapon @ Independent 8/4&5

BAGeL Radio Presents...
The Otherside/ Bears/ Slings @ Elbo Room 8/6
Colin Hay (Men At Work)/ Megan Slankard @ Independent 8/9

Psychic TV @ Independent 8/24

more upcoming shows

Labels: "480 Minutes", riaa sucks

BAGeL Radio will stream no music on Tuesday, June 26th. In solidarity with thousands of our webcasting brethren we are joining the Day of Silence in hopes of getting the attention of the mainstrem media. This event will illustrate to the 70+ million regular internet radio listeners in the US what will happen if the Copyright Royalty Board ruling is allowed to stand, shuttering independent internet radio for good. We hope that this spurs listeners and others to contact their representatives in Congress and ask that they support webcasters in this latest battle with the greedy, lying bastards at SoundExchange...who represent the RIAA...who represent the Major Labels...who are the swell folks who have been fleecing music lovers by charging obscene CD prices while at the same time fleecing their artists out of their cut of the profits.

Los Angeles-based NPR station KCRW is hosting a round table discussion of the issues:

KCRW JOINS FELLOW WEBCASTERS IN A "DAY OF SILENCE"

On Tuesday, June 26th, KCRW joins fellow webcasters in a Day of Silence. KCRW will shut down its regular web streams and broadcast a one-hour special program about the dangers to online streaming due to new high music royalties.

"D Day for Webcasters" will stream all-day Tuesday on KCRW.com -- repeating every hour for 24 hours -- and on KCRW's airwaves at 2 pm

I (BAGeL Radio Music Director Ted Leibowitz) am honored to be participating in the KRCW round-table discussion and urge listeners to tune in to the program on Tuesday, June 26th, instead of turning to the scab internet and terrestrial stations which will broadcast RIAA music on that day.

Read more from KRCW here, and a piece in the Wall Street Journal here (looks like the mainstream media is taking notice).

If you have not yet contacted your reps in Congress asking them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act, please do so now. Crunch time fast approacheth.

Labels: press, riaa sucks

Thanks to Jeff Leeds and The New York Times for bringing wide attention to internet radio and the dire issues the industry faces (and for putting a huge photo of me on page B4!). For those who have not been following the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) Decision story, the major record labels (hiding behind the front group for the RIAA known as SoundExchange) are attempting to wrest complete control of current and future music delivery systems to maintain their dominance of the music industry by killing off independent internet radio.

Thanks to all who have written in and IMed and called today and asked how to help. The answer is simple: call your senators and representatives now to ask them to co-sponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act, S.1353 in the Sentate and H.R. 2060 in the House of Representatives.

There's a tool at SaveNetRadio.org to help you find your legislators and provide quick and easy ways to contact them.

For those in San Francisco, on Sunday, July 1st we will be having an early evening (6pm-10pm) event at Bottom of the Hill to benefit the SaveNetRadio cause, get people involved, and raise awareness of the issues. The event will feature semi-acoustic mini-sets from Ted of The Heavenly States, Matt Lutz of The Herms, HIJK, raffles, prizes, a bake sale, serious drink specials, plus Elise from SomaFM/IndiePopRocks and I will be sharing the DJing duties. IODA, SonicLiving, reapandsow, and MyOpenBar are all helping to co-sponsor, it is going to be a great way to spend an early summer Sunday evening.

Oh, and if you feel like supporting the station you can buy a BAGeL Radio t-shirt, sweatshirt, bib, onesie, thong, coffee mug, or whathaveyou, you can do so right here right now.

Labels: HR 2060, riaa sucks, S 1353, savenetradio.org

Some people got mad at me for the blog post below. They say I am being too harsh on the poor, misunderstood folks at SoundExchange. Screw SoundExchange, and screw those who refuse to see SX for what it is: a front for the RIAA in it's latest attempt to gain a stranglehold on all possible media outlets.

Uh, errrr, uh, yes, well, uh, thank you, Jim. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

The next BAGeL Radio Presents... event is only days away (5/29), please tell your friends about it, blog about it, post a note about it at the office, and buy your tickets in advance here. The featured band of the night is San Francisco's own Magic Bullets, whose most excellent debut album is released that day. Already 3 songs from A Child But In Life Yet A Doctor In Love have been in regular rotation at BAGeL Radio, making the album one of the Top Albums of 2007 (So Far). (The rest of that list will be revealed during the 6/22/07 edition of "480 Minutes" and is likely to also include The Wombats and The National). Support for Magic Bullets comes in the form of Berkeley's The Morning Benders and SF's Rescue Me.

Today's show will include new music by They Might Be Giants, Amateurs, Satellite Party (Perry Farrell's new outfit, which has its moments, including a song featuring the first "new" Jim Morrison vocal track in about 30 years), Lavender Diamond, Diamond Jim, Tuatara, HeadQuarters (Brooklyn's long overdue answer to The Stone Roses?), Saturna (shoegaze part 2), Les Sans Culottes, Trevor Childs ("anybody who says they got god on their side makes me terrified"), and Spoon.

Please tune in, the program runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, and don't forget you can request songs and stuff via:

e-mail: feedback@bagelradio.com
Yahoo IM: bagelradio
AOL/iChat: bagelradiolive
MSN Msgr: bagelradio@hotmail.com
GoogleTalk: bagelradio@gmail.com

Recent Gig Photos:

'Twas A Hermit Week

Upcoming Bay Area Gigs of Interest:

DeVotchKa @ The Grand 5/25

Louis XIV @ The Independent 5/25

The Clientelle/ Beach House/ Mellow Drunk @ Great American 5/26

*Wallpaper/ Electric Soft Parade / Gavin Castleton @ Bottom of the Hill 5/27

Electrelane/ Tender Forever @ Great American 5/29

BAGeL Radio Presents...along with The SF Bay Guardian and KALX:

Magic Bullets (CD Release)/ The Morning Benders/ Rescue Me

@ Cafe du Nord 5/29

*The Black Angels/ VietNam/ Sprindrift/ Greg Ashley @ The Independent 5/30

*The Hold Steady/ Illinois @ Slim's 5/30
Voxtrot/ Sound Team/ Au Revoir Simone @ Great American 5/30

The Bay Bridged Presents....Social Studies/ Tempo No Tempo/ Lovely Public @ Rickshaw 5/31

Brakes Brakes Brakes / Scissors for Lefty @ Popscene 5/31

*Chris Garneau @ The Hemlock Tavern 5/31

The Arcade Fire @ The Greek Theatre (Berkeley) 6/1 & 2*

Matt & Kim/ The Mall / TBA @ Bottom of the Hill 6/2

The Raveonettes/ Electric Duo/ Midnight Movies @ Cafe du Nord 6/2

The Cliks @ Cafe du Nord 6/4

Young Galaxy/ Bellavista / From Bubble Gum To Sky @ Bottom of the Hill 6/6

*Gliss/ The Otherside / Tremble Low @ Bottom of the Hill 6/7

Mice Parade/ Tom Brosseau/ Kim Kira @ Bottom of the Hill 6/8

Menomena @ Independent 6/8

Mystery Jets/ White Rabbit @ Cafe du Nord 6/11

*Hot Chip/ The Boggs @ The Fillmore 6/12

*Noisettes/ The Maccabees @ Popscene 6/14

Dan Deacon/ Video Hippos @ Bottom of the Hill 6/19

Low @ Great American 6/19 & 6/20

Shearwater/ Jamie Stewart / Minus Story @ Bottom of the Hill 6/20

*Tarwater @ Bottom of the Hill 6/22

*The National @ Bimbo's 6/27

*The Veils @ Cafe du Nord 6/28

more upcoming shows

Labels: "480 Minutes", riaa sucks

A quick update on the internet radio royalty rate battle:

• On 4/26/07 Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL) introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060), legislation that would keep internet radio alive and allow it to thrive. As of this week the bill has over 60 co-sponsors.

• On 5/10/07 Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (R-KA) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

Despite repeated misleading and false statements released to the press by SoundExchange, the vast majority of coverage has seen through the smoke. Editorial has been firmly on the side of small webcasters and internet radio in general.

The most recent misinformation efforts from SoundExchange attempt to portray the fight as artists (SoundExchange) against megacorporations (AOL, Yahoo!), but that bogus narrative has yet to gain any traction.

This all looks good for the future of internet radio. The one-sided victory handed to SoundExchange/The RIAA by the Copyright Royalty Board may prove in the long run to be a positive for webcasters. The CRB decision brought the webcasting community together. Webcasters discussed the issue and potential solutions and ultimately produced the Internet Radio Equality Act. If this act becomes law, it will finally leave internet radio on sound business footing after years of "gee, what will they decide to charge us for promoting their records next?"

Labels: crb, HR 2060, internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks, S 1353, savenetradio.org, soundexchange

On March 2nd, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) dramatically increased the copyright royalty rate webcasters must pay. The CRB is the entity in charge of determining sound recording royalties paid by internet radio stations. After hearing evidence from SoundExchange (a proxy for the RIAA) and webcasters, the CRB came down firmly on the side of the RIAA.

The decision was so one-sided that the staggering new rates are retroactive to January 1st, 2006.

When these retroactive royalty payments come due in mid-July many webcasters will be silenced by a financial burden even the biggest online broadcasters cannot afford. For independent artists and labels, the silence will be deafening and deadly.

Legal internet broadcasters already pay sizeable annual fees to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange. The fee structure already in place makes it so difficult to stay afloat that last year even WOXY.com -- one of the most popular, respected, and longest-running internet radio stations ever -- was forced to cease operations because of financial constraints. WOXY was later acquired and reanimated by the good folks at LaLa.com, but “[the new rates] absolutely would have killed WOXY as a stand-alone operation without a doubt,” said Bryan Jay Miller, general manager of the Cincinnati-based online radio station.

Many over-the-air stations also stream their broadcasts online -- this copyright royalty rate hike will likely force most if not all of them to silence their streams as well.

The Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060)

On April 30, 2007, representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL) introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060), legislation that would keep internet radio alive. The bill has dozens of co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, and there is now sister legislation in the Senate known as S. 1353.

You can find out if your representative is a co-signer by visiting SaveNetRadio.org. Enter your zip code and if your representative’s contact information will appear, along with a notation as to wheter or not they are already on board.

RIAA=SoundExchange=CRB Puppetmasters

How did the RIAA get the Copyright Royalty Board to sign off on such a clearly one-sided decision? According to the New York Times, during the proceedings a CRB judge asked if the term “albums” could refer to CDs as well as vinyl records. That quote would seem to imply a Ted "the internet is a series of tubes" Stevens-like misinformed understanding of the internet.

Why would the RIAA want to silence independent internet radio?

SoundExchange represents the four biggest record labels. These labels have controlled the music industry for years. Their ability to dominate the landscape year after year was due in large part to the unfair playing field on which smaller labels and independent arists were forced to compete.

The majors have dominated access to over-the-air radio and other music promotion outlets for decades. Then a new technology appeared that threatened to level that unfair playing field -- internet radio. Independent labels and independent artists suddenly had myriad outlets through which to get their music played widely heard.

More people gained easy access to hearing music from these independent artists and niche genres, more people spent their entertainment dollars on this music, money to which the major labels believe they entitled.

The Spread of Internet Radio

Desperate for an alternative to the boring, bland, repetitive, lowest-common-denomenator programmed stations hosted by shouting know-nothing DJs on their FM dials, computer savvy music lovers were all over internet radio. They found hundreds, then thousands of stations offering a previously unthinkable number of genres, bands, and programming choices. People listened, they liked, and they clicked on over to the iTunes Music Store, Amazon.com, and band websites to buy this new and interesting music they might not have otherwise learned even known existed.

Then there are the bands that are a little too noisy or edgy or outspoken or experimental or lyrically controversial to ever get played on regular radio – internet radio stations have provided platforms for such artists to reach new fans.

These stations included pioneers like SomaFM and Radio Paradise, as well as thousands of hobbyist-run stations streaming through the Live365 network.

Internet radio is the medium music lovers turn to hear new music. As such, internet radio has evolved into one of the best promotional tools available to independent artists and record labels who are otherwise shut out of the corporate owned networks of terrestrial radio, television, and satellite radio.

My Station, BAGeL Radio

BAGeL Radio began playing bands like Silversun Pickups, Cold War Kids, TV on the Radio, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, months and sometimes years before over-the-air radio started playing them.

Current BAGeL Radio staples you are likely to hear on terrestrial alternative radio in the next 12-18 months include Birdmonster, Cloud Cult, Sea Wolf, Snowden, Division Day, Blitzen Trapper, Saturna, and The Wombats.

BAGeL Radio’s local, national, and global listenership has helped numerous local acts get heard beyond the local club circuit, resulting in people attending their shows far and wide and spurring online music sales. Bands have returned from the road with stories of first-time visits to cities where people in the crowd knew the words to self-released songs having heard them on internet radio.

Local and touring bands drop in for interviews and in-studio live on-air performances including Bound Stems, The Grates, The Heavenly States, Lemon Sun, Birdmonster, Bon Savants, Matt Lutz, and more.

BAGeL Radio has also booked hosted dozens of shows featuring mainly local talent, bringing together acts that work well together musically to help them share and grow audiences. BAGeL Radio hosted series have included The California Homegrown Music Series, [RockScene], and various BAGeL Radio Presents… events.

The Big Lies

In it's presentation to the CRB, SoundExchange claimed that internet radio provides no promotional benefit to artists...if that is the case, would someone please tell me why labels send me, a small webcaster, dozens of CDs a week? The folks in the promotions departments of the labels are aware that internet radio can provide a great deal of promotional benefit to artists.

With the help of internet media, an independent band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! managed to sell a couple of hundred thousand copies of their debut album without the help of even a small label.

The RIAA claims that internet radio allows people to copy music for free. Well, yeah, it does...just as FM radio has done for decades! A cassette (or digital) copy of FM radio will sound an awful lot like a cassette (or digital) copy of my internet radio stream. The RIAA used the phrase fallacious phrase "perfect digital copies" (and obscenely off-the-mark description) to convince Congress to include this copyright royalty fee for internet radio (but not terrestrial radio) during the drafting of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act in 1998.

Lies-by-omission seem to be a specialty of SoundExchange, whose Executive Director John Simson said of the last time royalty rates were decided (2002), "we had the same exact response: that this is terrible, it's going to put everybody out of business. But the industry grew."

Conveniently omitted is that the now-expired Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002, enacted by Congress after it became evident that the new rates were murdering internet radio in it's infancy, is what enabled the industry to grow. There are no small webcaster stipulations in the SoundExchange-penned new royalty rates.

The industry argument is that copyright holders should make more money from their songs being played on internet radio. Why not terrestrial radio as well? Oh, right, because terrestrial radio, with it's two decade-long slow fade into oblivion, provides promotional benefit to copyright holders, whereas internet radio, where listenership is growing by leaps and bounds, does not.

The rapid spread of broadband internet plus the ubiquitousness of iTunes has put internet radio within a simple double-click of the vast majority of the music buying public, computer saavy or not. Did you know that 1 in 5 U.S. consumers aged 12 and over listen to internet radio?

According to Bridge Ratings & Research, the number of monthly internet radio listeners increased from 45 million at the end of 2005 to 72 million in early 2007. It really is no wonder why the majors, so used to dominating media outlets, want to do away with independent internet radio -- a medium that promotes independent bands and indie labels, local music scenes, niche genres and not, generally speaking, NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys.

Webcasters are hoping that the aforementioned tens of millions internet radio regulars are paying attention and will sign our petition and contact their Senators and Representatives. Sensible, fair legislation that refelcts the public interest, is what is needed now.

Read more detailed information at Broadcast Law Blog, SaveNetRadio.org, Live365, SomaFM, and the Radio And Internet Newsletter. For a legal look at music royalty obligations for internet radio, click here.

Labels: crb, HR 2060, internet radio equality act, riaa, riaa sucks, S 1353, savenetradio.org, soundexchange