back-words... stop the madness...

Tuesday, March 20, 2007
stop the madness...
ok, looky here, another company having troubles with the riaa -- and a highly recognized and respected name at that -- is having fears of business loss over this runaway train also known as the riaa.
i get infuriated because i want to dj and produce edm til i die, or at least into my 60s/70s. i feel like i am being stripped bit by bit (no pun intended) of a livelihood that has grown to be my deepest passion. i have worked in many career/job fields. i came back to music, not only because its what i do best, but also because it is what i love. i want to live off of making music, entertaining and delighting listeners and dancers with my craft.
djs mix because they promote a sound, not because they claim music as their own work. why should a dj have to pay to promote what isnt theirs? a lot of djs also produce when they mix. theyre not getting paid to produce. most internet djs dont get paid at all, theyre playing to entertain and to promote their own skill and craft and selective talent. most internet edm djs are in a separate class than mainstream djs. the music is already underground in most cases. the riaa is shutting down something they have no right to shut down.
please do something about this. please use the links provided. please nurture the scene that fosters unconditional acceptance. please help...


Digitally Imported Blog


.. Begin #content --> .. Begin #main -->
Monday, March 12, 2007
.. Begin .post -->
New Music Royalty Rates May Shut Down Internet Radio
On Friday March 2nd, the U.S. government, through the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), made a determination of the royalty rates Internet Radio webcasters must pay the owners of sound recording copyrights to license the music they webcast for the years 2006-2010. The license is paid to SoundExchange, a nonprofit organization that collects royalty payments from digital music broadcasters and distributes them to rights holders.

The issue is that the new rates completely ignore the business and market realities of Internet Radio. In a nutshell they expect many webcasters, such as at Digitally Imported, to pay far greater money for licensing than we ever even collect from all of our services, effectively driving webcasters out of business.

For commercial and for larger non-commercial webcasters the judges set a pay-per-play rate of:

* $.0008 per play for 2006
* $.0011 per play for 2007
* $.0014 per play for 2008
* $.0018 per play for 2009
* $.0019 per play for 2010

No need to adjust your glasses, you are seeing it correctly. Not only are the rates outrageous but they also continue to increase wildly every year. For example, by 2007 the rate jumps 37% from 2006!
SaveTheStreams.org has sample calculations here on what it means to stream to 10,000 concurrent listeners on average, if you are interested in the fine details. And keep in mind that Digitally Imported has far more listeners than in that example. We are talking about rates which are hundreds of % more than the revenues webcasters generate, even before any expenses for things such as wages, resources, hardware, and so on. How judges can come up with such numbers is beyond me. What we do know is that Digitally Imported was part of a collective of small commercial broadcasters which presented its arguments in court proceedings. Yet the judges completely threw virtually all of our arguments aside in making their decision.

What's ironic is that even if the Internet radio advertising market was fully mature, which it isn't, and we played as many audio ads for you as we could - then not only we'd be in for a prize for most ads played by any entity, as one other webcaster joked. But we still would be very far from reaching the required revenue numbers and being able to pay such rates. It's just completely unrealistic to expect any sort of a model to exist both now and in next years that would come close to being able to justify these rates. Maybe the big corporations of the world such as Yahoo and AOL could in theory afford to loose on such rates and still provide music, but that doesn't mean all other businesses have to go as a result. Do you really want to have just a few big corporations playing the music for you in the future?


You may ask us about why don't we just play unlicensed tracks or make an agreement with artists directly to avoid paying so much. The reality of the business is that it is virtually impossible to micromanage things this way. You'd have to have a world class communication company to be able to track down so many artists or labels, find where who is, who to contact, what forms to sign, talk them into it, etc. Plus you'd be surprised just how much of the non-mainstream music you love so much here is really signed to a label. That's why in theory the law that allows for a blanket license is really convenient - it's just that the rates which were set now are truly hopeless and stifle any kind of competition. What are we supposed to do, wave a flag and and turn into a payola service? Put a banner out that says "hey, whoever pays us the most in advance gets to have his or her track heard on the radio!"? Because that's the only model that is going to work with these rates.


This All Sounds Familiar, What Happened Last Time?

If this all sounds familiar it is because it is very similar to what happened the last time around 2002 and the Day of Silence campaign. Then too very bad rates were proposed for the period up until the end of 2005. Much hype was raised because then as now the industry was about to die. You wonderful listeners wrote in droves to your congressmen whether by submitting online forms, emails, letters, or phone calls, and they in turn heard your message. With the urging of Congressmen last time, SoundExchange and the small commercial webcasters such as Digitally Imported settled on a deal (SWSA) that allowed us to pay a percentage of revenue or expenses instead of per performance, with the rates ranging around 10-12%. Even though officially the rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) last time were also bad, this negotiated deal allowed us to use another model and continue to exist. There was no such option allowed by the CRB this time, and the jury's still out on whether anything will be negotiated like it was last time.


WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP, AND IT TAKES 2 MINUTES

After careful consideration we feel that the most efficient course of action would be to send a note to your own Congresspeople complaining about the issue, stating that it is important to you and that you want them to help solve it.

To do so we are providing an easy link for you, there's even prepared text for you to Copy and Paste. Please go to this link at Congress.org, check the text there and copy it, and by just inputting your zip code you can digitally send in the letter to your congresspeople. This really helps!

Of course the more you spread this message among friends and the media, the more attention it grabs and the more pressure there is on everyone to overturn or settle the matter before it is too late.

Also see the new post about Other Ways To Help and Donate, which has been added since after numerous requests.

On behalf of Team Digitally Imported, and all our other fellow webcasters, we thank you for your support once again. It was a miracle that last time around we were able to do something through these actions, there's no reason why it cannot work again. Thank you for your few minutes of time to help in this matter.

Sincerely,

Ari Shohat
Founder & Manager
Digitally Imported, Inc.
http://www.di.fm/ http://www.sky.fm/
..>digg_url='http://digg.com/tech_news/New_Streaming_Royalty_Rates_also_threaten_Digitally_Imported_Radio';..>
.. src="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.js">..>

posted by Ari at 5:39 PM
.. End .post -->.. Begin #comments -->
98 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This is rather scary news as DI.fm is amazing. Is there anything that your users can do if they do not live in the US?
Thanks Chris
P.S. You should put more information about this on your main page,
1:31 PM
Anonymous said...

Oh my god, that is terrible. :o
I second the "put it on the main page". Make it bold and red.
I stumbled upon this by accident. :(
4:40 PM
Anonymous said...

What if you only play non-licensed music?
2:40 PM
Miljan said...

I became a paid member moments ago and the first thing I accidentally found on the site was the following piece of information: "New Music Royalty Rates Are About To Shut Down Internet Radio... Stay tuned here as I explain in next few days how this is going to kill us soon unless..."

: )
Looking forward to hearing more on this one.
2:19 PM
Anonymous said...

My understanding, is that it has nothing to do with any form of licensing. All music played will incur a charge to be paid to SoundExchange, and its up to the artist to collect the royalties from SoundExchange. In theory this ruling does apply to non-US based listeners, so DI could continue to broadcast to anyone outside the US. Quite ironic.
2:56 PM
Anonymous said...

Thats neat, but for those of us in fact in the US this would be horrible! I've put up bulletins on myspace to try and get the word out as well as forums. Hopefully this can be stopped eh?
10:02 PM
Anonymous said...

The true reality is I listen to your di.fm because of your 'content'. Personally I think if you could get the artists to pay for your radio. Di.fm are much better equipped and culturally to present it the right way, as I have discovered it.

ps. good luck with the fight.
10:47 PM
Anonymous said...

Anyways...you don't even profit from it...other than advertise the artists, correctly....not destroy it...i guess in the case of underground music vs commercial...just like in the real world...get the hint...sometimes to provide quality...keep doing what you guys do best...because it definitely promotes the artists much much better...rather than some commercial avenues...keep the fight...
10:58 PM
Anonymous said...

Time to move the servers to Europe heh. This is really rediculous.
11:04 PM
Michael O'Hara said...

I think the royality increases for Internet Radio is nothing short of egregious and downright greedy. I sincerely hope that my representatives will be able to vote against this bill or I'll just have to vote them out :)
12:06 AM
Anonymous said...

Don't worry. All you have to do is set up your servers and credit card processing thru offshore destinations that are non complaint to US laws and court orders.
12:31 AM
David said...

How hypocritical it is of any governmental body or corporation to do anything to destroy any form of e-commerce. The Internet is still too new and needs to be given time to grow. Between this new development and the extent the government has gone to stifle Internet gaming, I am appalled.
1:42 AM
Anonymous said...

I wonder that you mustn't pay for playing bevor now! In Germany we pay since Internetradio is possible! Good Luck!
2:05 AM
Anonymous said...

You should start thinking about moving servers and headquarters to Europe. USA is becoming more and more pro-corporate.

Good luck!
5:02 AM
Kyle said...

You know all this does? It works aggressively to push down market competition, force companies overseas or underground - it is anticompetetive in the greatest sense.

Where on earth do these judges get their arguments from? Their rulings? This is totally absurd and is the polar opposite - the antithesis - of logic.
5:09 AM
Anonymous said...

Sounds like USA are getting as shitty as France in terms of music rights management.
7:09 AM
Anonymous said...

Sounds like they are just squeezing the properly run sites like DI and encouraging the crooked underground ones that will never pay anything! It defies belief that they think this is going to work. At the moment they are getting a healthy chunk from the internet, but soon they will get nothing because they will shut down all the stations. goose and golden egg spring to mind! -Dogfax
8:07 AM
L2 said...

Well, that's the music industry for ya. They just want the money, that's it.
9:47 AM
Yogiyosh said...

This is just another example of how greedy the music industry is, the copyright associations in the U.S and U.K mainly want to squeeze every last drop of cash out of radio stations and anybody else.

They use varying arguments that unlicensed airplay is effecting the artists, they allegedly represent. In fact the artists are well looked after.

It makes me sick to think that corporate greed will ruin internet radio stations, such as DI...which in mine and many others opinions is a truely fantastic service.

A final word; what happens when all the radio stations have been squeezed out of business due to crippling charges being levvied, I'm sure the copyright associations would have something to complain about when virtually no income was being raised?
10:36 AM
Anonymous said...

Dieter Lanckman Belgium
What can we do in Europe?
A lot of people love di
Grtz
11:14 AM
Anonymous said...

Totally sucks ... all music I listen to anymore is online. In fact it's not even available elsewhere. The actual radio stations in my area don't even come close.

Yep, time to move the servers
11:14 AM
jason said...

Well I don't know what I can do as I am from UK.

At the end of the day the artists will lose out on thousands in royalty if you go out of business and I don't think they're about to let that happen so I wouldn't worry about it. They'll accept whatever royalty you offer so just continue to do what you're doing.

Regards, JayUK.
12:01 PM
Anonymous said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
12:17 PM
Anonymous said...

Sigh.. *shakes fist*
12:17 PM
Anonymous said...

has anyone checked to see who the executives and backers of Soundexchange are? Are they simply a front for the major labels? Might this be a anti-trust suit waiting to happen?
12:20 PM
Anonymous said...

Can non-US citizens send lease to the congress to stop this blasphemy? If all goes down the shitter, you're always welcome to relocate to Canada where we have no laws! :D

Best of luck to everyone.
12:35 PM
Anonymous said...

Thats really awful !!!

For me this is a try to reduce the variety of the internet. Less channels, less music, only playing the mainstream-shit.
1:12 PM
Anonymous said...

this so sucks! i hope di.fm doesnt close down :( i was just about to subscribe for year, and im getting broadband in weeks time just for di!!! dont take it away, how can overseas people help?

lets all hope and pray :)
1:57 PM
Anonymous said...

i too thought relocating the servers/biz elsewhere. i'm wondering if this is a real possiblity? the jack-booted music industry may prosecute americans doing this?
2:26 PM
GABE said...

So if we did have to subscribe, how much would it be?

This SUCKS

DI.fm is one of the best things on the internet.
2:29 PM
Andy said...

We are such a weatly country and still "We don't make enough money to support ourself, so we had to go and inforce these royalties". This is sad news. Instead of doing something about wars that affect our economy we're killing small business. DI.Fm is excellent radio station, with superb playlist. I would really hate to see it go..
2:38 PM
jukommerce said...

In countries with a high tax-rate there is a lot of offshore-banking;

Even in countries where is no democracy there is an opposition;

I think quality will always survive... so we'll keep DI.FM!!!!

But for the USA this is very bad news. Your country will loose marketshare, will loose tax-income and such bad decisions have serious impact on your country's reputation.
2:49 PM
Anonymous said...

I find it irresponsible that congress would even consider such a thing. How much of that money collected actually gets to an artist and how much goes to the bureaucracy of administering it and the salaries of the board of directors of this so called non profit organization?? Working with many artists myself I know the amount collected in Royalties from these third parties are so nominal if at all - that Touring is the only way the artist makes a living. The more listeners the more likely they will have more sold out shows and merch sales.
2:56 PM
Anonymous said...

Pavel Gruev, Bulgaria

A classical case of cutting down the hen that lays golden eggs, just to get a couple of eggs this very moment.
The artists will lose most in the long run, but obviously this is of no concern to the major labels.
I really appreciate listening to your radio and sincerely hope that this stupid law will be changed.
All the best!
3:29 PM
Anonymous said...

really bad news, but aren't laws different in other countries, that di.fm would kind of move their services to another country...

not sure if this could be accomplished easy but its really bad to hear that.
3:37 PM
Rick Dawson said...

Is there anything non US people can do?

I will be putting a post on my blog shortly about this, and linking to here.
4:08 PM
Anonymous said...

I advise you send an e-mail to the folks at the RIAA and SoundExchange and tell them how many music purchases you have made in the last year because of something you heard on Internet radio.

Here is an example; the e-mail I wrote to John Simson, Executive Director of SoundExchange:


Quote:
Mr. Simson,

As an avid listener of Internet radio, I can attest to the marked increase in the amount of music purchases I have made in the last year since I became a DI.fm and RadioParadise.com listener.

I have my favorite terrestrial radio stations I listen to, as well (KINK 102 FM, Portland Oregon), but they do not completely satisfy my eclectic taste in music. As a result of my terrestrial radio listening, I have purchased three CD's in the last 12 months. As a result of my Internet radio listening, I have purchased 5 CD's and well over 150 songs from iTunes and Beatport in the last 12 months.

Internet radio reaches an audience that conventional radio formats never will. The CRB's rate hike will erect huge barriers Internet radio industry, making it an unprofitable venture and limiting choices for consumers. If you price your customers out of the market, then where is your revenue going to come from? And, if I don't get to hear music I like, I won't be buying it!

I stronly urge the RIAA and SoundExchange to reconsider their stance on this issue.
4:40 PM
Anonymous said...

I'm ashamed to be a citizen of this "free" country...
9:20 PM
Anonymous said...

For all listeners who don't live in the US I just have one warning: If the digital rights laws do not effect you directly today, they will once the record companies have assumed total control in the US. They follow the motto: "Today the US, tomorrow the world" At the moment they need the support of the US legislators. Once they have everything they want from them, they will probably move their HQ to Dubai or some other contry where they don't have to pay taxes.
And the US citizens like sheep will accept this just like they accept billions of taxpayers $ being paid to Haliburton who then moves their HQ to Dubai to avoid paying taxes.

I guess if big corporations treat US taxpayers like suckers, these citizens will behave like suckers.
Sorry for rambling ... I am mad.
9:53 PM
Anonymous said...

eh loko soy de argentina y es un bajon eso que lei ...ojala sigan como siempre asi salto de loko en mi habitacion
9:54 PM
Anonymous said...

This radio station better not close down else I will be pissed!!!
10:10 PM
Anonymous said...

This radio station better not close down else I will be pissed!!!
10:10 PM
Anonymous said...

This is stright more bs from the us gov. They just want to suck everyone dry, so they can keep all of what they get, ITS NOT LIKE PEOPLE WHO MAKE MUSIC DONT SELL IT, PEOPLE LISTEN TO IT ON DI.FM and THEN GO BUY IT! YOU ARE SUPPORTING THEM! AND THEY WANT MORE LIKE THE BLOODHOUNDS THEY ARE.
12:05 AM
Lady Rumplestiltskin said...

Do you really want to have just a few big corporations playing the music for you in the future?



Hell no! They don't even play some of the cool songs you guys have for each DIFM channel -- instead, we'll be gettin' Brittany Spears 24/7! My hearing is going NUMB just thinking about it!

Damn straight I'm sendin' a letter of concern to my congressmen and do anything to help keep Digitally Imported alive -- even for the hard rock junkies XD
12:33 AM
Anonymous said...

Sorry, this was the largest Bullshit i ever hear. Which one of all Electronic-Musicans becomes really the Money you must spend??
I think it will be under 1%.
The most people who produce some Sounds do it because them want a better World with more freedom.
The problem is the commercial RnB and HipHop- Scene, them kill the feelings and the Power from the real Music.
I was DJ since a long Time, and i can tell you that it gives millions of people who makes some Sound with the Computer. And here is the Problem; who Contact all of its and bring them the Money??
No one.
Dont spend something, it flows in the wrong direction. It flows in the capitalistic Scene who pray for War and Destruction...

We want a better World? Why we dont do?

Lovely greetings from Chris/Switzerland
4:13 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry and so sad when hearing this seriously bad news :(!

I'm currently living outside of the US and don't know how to help out you guys at Sky.fm/di.fm with at least a complaining letter to Congresspeople. Nevertheless, I've been actually a foreign audience of your Internet radio station for a pretty long time ago, since the day I incidental found out your station streaming address in my iTunes. I have to say that you guys are really cool and I appreciate your earnest endeavors to actively produce and give out such quality webcasted channels. I wish I could partly contribute something to oppose against this new music royalty rates but everything appears that outside US people is hard to exert their influence to your local government.

Best wishes to you all.
Another lovely greeting from Nguyen/Vietnam.
10:51 AM
Anonymous said...

What horrible news!

Move the office to Canada (then I have a hope of working for you too! ^_~)

Seriously, the artists make money from hard work, like concerts and shows. Its the recording studios who make all the money from the broadcasts.
If we don't keep the small and independent guys running, the world 's only choice will be Britney or Christina! We won't get to pick anything but mainstream!

I love listening to DI.fm, ever since I stumbled upon it a few months ago.
I even listen to it while playing Warcraft.

You guys are great, keep up the good work.

Let us know how us foreigners can help too!
2:53 PM
Anonymous said...

I wrote the letter, I reposted this on my blog and will be sure to put a sign up about it on Inspire Beach in second life ! We stream DI.fm chillout there 90% of the time!

Everyone loves it and I'm sure brings you new listeners everyday.
5:55 PM
Anonymous said...

corporations want to control everything!!
6:49 PM
Anonymous said...

This is horrible! I am nearly addicted to DI.FM for 2 years now, the only station without bla bla..

How can I react and make a statement? I live in Holland, Europe. I want to help.
7:42 PM
Anonymous said...

Is their something we can workout with the royalty rates. Don't get rid of the radio station. Im sure we can work something out. Let the music keep playing.
8:04 PM
Anonymous said...

DI.fm please keep fighting for us listeners we got your back. We want to help to!
8:10 PM
Anonymous said...

We pay for our membership we pay to download songs. What is the BIG problem. Everything is one hundread percent legal. Government go attack some other corporation scaming people out of money.
8:24 PM
Anonymous said...

We pay for our membership we pay to download songs. What is the BIG problem. Everything is one hundread percent legal. Government go attack some other corporation scaming people out of money.
8:24 PM
kandiravah said...

Well....looks like the government's at it again....I don't object to the artists and record companies getting what's due them....but it certainly looks like the government's out to kill off anything that's not a big corporate outlet...like Clear Channel..which owns ALL the major stations in my town....and plays absolutely nothing worth listening to. Not to mention that this would also limit exposure to anything other than what the corporate goons play...maybe it is time to move the servers to a more friendly place...
9:14 PM
Anonymous said...

If it comes down to it, I'd be happy to pay $15/mo for digitally imported. Sure beats anything the sat radio offers for the same price.

I'm not condoning what they are doing, as there doesn't seem to be any room for negotiation. And business is all about negotiation. This is just another attempt from the record companies to stifle innovation, even though they are still making money off it. I really wish the government would stay out of the business world. They can't even balance their own budget, but they'll screw up the market without even batting an eyelash.
10:27 PM
Anonymous said...

I think it is a bunch of nonsense. This has to be about the big corps wanting to step on the samll guys. Think about it, Digitally Imported is far better that any Clear Channle FM statioin I know of an they know it. So what do they do, get a judge who wants to get paid to try to shut the net radio down. A bunch of BS. I host a one man online mix show broadcast and I do not want these guys coming after me for this crap.

Did they think about how mush it already cost to host a live stream with a large number of cuncurrent listeners? WOW. I am just pissed. Pissed. Here I am trying to get a small business off the ground broadcasting and these alreay rich guys tell me I have to pay so much that I could never make it happen. Man, I am trying not to curse but I want to just say these guys are dumb mutha*&^%@s'. Let us get our and help the music scene.
1:56 AM
Anonymous said...

THEY ARE INSANE

No other better explanation.
Mp3 and radio streams stimpulate Sales for events and and artists will definetly gain more from such streams.

Abolishing them is a blasphame against helping emerging artists !
7:01 AM
John said...

Blogged it. johndball.com
8:24 AM
Anonymous said...

This is bad. Once again the music suffers and so to, do the people who listen to it. Record companies should be happy at their music being promoted, people listen, like the track/album and go and buy it. I think the artists who make it should complain also as their music is not getting the best widespread audience available. First DRM now this when will it stop!!!!!! The industry Execs are too greedy!!!

Thanks to all at DI.fm for a great choice in music and a great service.
9:56 AM
Anonymous said...

U.S. government realy disappointed me , first they banned betting and now they try to destroy all online radios !! what a pity.
Could Di.fm move offshore so can do business totally free of any charges??

Cheers.
Abtin
12:57 PM
Anonymous said...

I wrote my congressman...but frankly...why should the ARTISTS not be paid. Free radio! Sign me up! What about more commercials? (Yep...sucks...but it would pay the bills.) What about 1 month free then EVERYONE subscribes...or has to.

There is no free ride.
4:57 PM
Anonymous said...

This is not good, Im from the uk, and DI is the only station I listen to, no one else plays such a wide range of good soul grabbing music as you do.
There must be some thing we can do over here in the uk and other countries to help you guys out?

No DI, would be devastating, keep up the excellent work and carry on playing them great tunes.

Cheers guys, Luke.
5:13 PM
sprawk said...

I just sent an e-mail to both my senators (Jon Kyle & John McCain) and my Congressman (Raúl M. Grijalva) with an edited version of the original plea e-mail:

As your constituent and a fan of Internet radio, I was alarmed to learn
that music royalty rates were recently determined by the Copyright Royalty
Board (CRB) which, if enacted, would certainly silence most or all of my
favorite online listening services. For most webcasters, this royalty rate
represents more than 100% of their total revenues!

The shuttering of the webcasting industry would be a loss for not only
independent business owners, but also for musical artists, for copyright
owners, and for listeners like me who enjoy the wide variety of choices
available via Internet radio. Internet radio stations currently provide a
legal way for listeners like myself to discover new music. Often times on
the sites discussion boards you can speak with the artist, get to know
them, and I feel that this detracts from piracy. I am currently paying for
a premium subscription to an internet radio station (http://di.fm) and
feel it would be an absolute travesty to see good sites like this go down
due to a lack of light being shed on this situation.

I respectfully request that your office look into this matter and initiate
action to prevent it. As the CRB rate decision is retroactive to January
1, 2006, please understand that time is of the essence -- as the immediate
impact of this decision could silence many Internet radio stations
forever.

Sincerely,


Timothy T.
(555)555-5555

Are you a registered voter?: Yes
Did you vote in the last election?: No
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Would you like a reply?: Yes


So I hope that helps. Digg.com is big on this too.
5:13 PM
Razare said...

Wrote my congress person about this, but I don't expect it to turn out well.

It comes down to which force is greater...

Corporate $$$ or Internet Radio Listeners

Sadly, the first is much more powerful and will be for as far as anyone can tell. Decent internet radio will probably die off now.
10:39 PM
Anonymous said...

This is sad. I love this radio station!!. I really hope that you will be running for a long time. I am not american, other wise i would have wrote to my congresspeople. My heart and mind are with you in your fight.
12:01 AM
jayson knight said...

Manual trackback here: http://jaysonknight.com/blog/archive/2007/03/16/save-internet-radio.aspx
12:10 AM
Anonymous said...

SRY DI... You,ve been wonderful...

tony
1:37 PM
Vitesse said...

why do you simply broadcast from canada and play only international music. If american company doesn't have anywere to be listen maybe they change their mind? Canadian and european artiste make realy good music and not only in the electronic domain like di.fm
9:00 PM
Anonymous said...

this is horrible, i think you should make a small add about this in between tracks so more people learn about this and can help.
I hope we can fight this.
2:52 AM
Anonymous said...

from Bake_Seaweed

why don't we just play unlicensed tracks

CHEER and PEACE
6:07 AM
Anonymous said...

from Bake_Seaweed

why don't we just play unlicensed tracks... there is too many KILL OUT dj's out in this WORLD

CHEER AND PEACE
6:10 AM
Danmark said...

Similar processes are not only limited to DI.fm : sign of the times ?

Anyhow, I have messaged USA buddies to encourage them to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=9461656&content_dir=ua_congressorg&mailid=custom


I didn't subscribe to DI.fm Premium to see my beloved Internet Radio station disappear !
7:20 AM
Anonymous said...

Its like you open a shop and sell bread for 5 cents, then you start to sell it at 5 dollers... guess what no one buys your bread. It dont figure..

Internet radio stations shut down... they then get no money... eh. So what is the point???
9:02 AM
Anonymous said...

I don't believe in much anymore but one thing I do is internet radio. Just another pathetic move by the music industry. I spit in their faces. Another insult that affects so many people just to make a few richer. I say off with their heads.
5:52 PM
Anonymous said...

Sounds like it's time to "sell" digitally imported to it's future parent company/shell: Digitally Imported Cayman Islands, Inc.
5:58 PM
Anonymous said...

MOVE YOUR SERVERS TO CANADA. WE LOVE DI HERE. I HAVE HOSTED PARTIES STREAMING DI! WE ARE ALL HERE TO HELP.
10:45 PM
Anonymous said...

wow!!! just another way to put people down!! cant they not just leave us HAPPY PEOPLE alone?!!!
hope it gets to b solved soon...
DI is my fav radio channel, i have played 3 different sets here and will play loads more soon, would do anything to help!!
dj deeb
3:59 AM
Anonymous said...

DI is great! I have been listening to you for over three years. I hope nothing ruins my experience with DI. By far you are the #1 broadcast station on the WWW.
12:41 PM
Anonymous said...

Land of the free HMMM
3:32 PM
BoneZ said...

DI is the greatest internet radio on the web and the only one i listen to. Anything we can do DI, you let us know. I for one am not letting DI go that easily.
4:03 PM
Anonymous said...

I know that by looking at the rates quickly, the might SEEM very high. But think about this...

Premium users pay $6.95 per month to listen to DI.FM. Using the rates outlined for 2007 (.0011 per song), and assuming that you listen to an average of 10 hours of music per week, it would cost DI.FM 75 cents ($0.75) to pay for my music royalties - leaving them with $6.20.

This might be an issue for free listening, but it certainly will not be an issue for people even a small fee to listen to music.
4:32 PM
Anonymous said...

this is bullshit!
I live in a small country town and we have almost no radio here other than local government radio.
How am i ever going to hear psychedelic music if the shut internet radio?
This just sucks
11:00 PM
Ari said...

To the person few comments above doing the calculations for Premium service: these rates apply mostly to non-subscription services, considering about 98% of our audience doesn't pay to listen this arguement is pointless as it doesn't apply to a real life scenerio.
11:51 AM
harri the greek said...

dont even think of shuting D.I down
find a way to keep us alive. we need you. no D.I no reason to live.make everybody subscribe.they dont know what they re missing.
unbelivable station and musik
I LOVE YOU.
1:48 PM
Jeff said...

This would be an insane tragedy ... di has helped me get where I am with production, and because of it, im signed. I would HATE for such a great resource and community to be shut down because people dont digg free promotion.
3:11 PM
Anonymous said...

Sigh, they're stupid aren't they eh?

What a shame that non US people can't do anything about it.
Or can they? How?


You should make the link on the main page much bigger, to be honest.
7:43 PM
Anonymous said...

Ari, this is of course the issue, these rates are not worked out on a ‘real life’ scenario.

It sounds very much to me like the person above is suggesting that this rate has been developed, to try and get money for the record industry from Internet radio listeners... now that is a surprise... not.
8:02 PM
david said...

Anyone read the press release from Soundexchange, the body who controls payments - read this section -

We believe internet radio broadcasters are our partners
and it is our strong desire to see a thriving online radio marketplace. However,
such a marketplace cannot be sustained without music, and the decision of the
CRB fully recognizes and reflects this fact.

Thriving on line... more like no more on line. And look at that, Internet radio needs music.. eh yep and it looks like you have it all Soundexchange!
8:22 PM
Anonymous said...

Looking through my congressman's letters to read box I have found at least 100 other emails on this issue. We might actually make a difference.
9:59 PM
Anonymous said...

Love the Music. Once again government has to get into peoples enjoyment of music. Can't you move your company Sky FM to a country that will welcome your music for the world to hear? Again thank you Sky fm for the coolest music on the WWW.
5:17 AM
Anonymous said...

This is one of the reasons why I am starting to dislike the Americans. They kill all the fun...
6:30 AM
Sean said...

Ari,

We are dealing with similar issues through our service. This is all such a headache.

I just sent you an email about the fact that we offer a service that might be able to help you recoup the lost $20,000 and then some.

Please drop me a line: labels [at] PlayItTonight.com

~Sean
PlayItTonight.com
1:57 PM
Ari said...

>Anonymous said... This is one of the reasons why I am starting to dislike the Americans. They kill all the fun...

In reply to that, you might as well stop listening then because this station is run by Americans and Europeans together.

It is important to keep your focus straight here and not to make generalizations. Similarly I find some posts blaming "capitalism" here or on Digg replies for this problem or all the evils of the world completely ridiculous. Remember, the problem here is that a legal body, part of the government (meaning NOT capitalist by definition), made this mess in the first place and made this mess now. Ideally things wouldn't be so regulated, because when someone wants governement regulation you can say goodbye to capitalism and hello to castrated capitalism. This is what is happening here, please be mindful of facts and let us all stick with the issue at hand please.
3:32 PM
Anonymous said...

I sincerely wish you luck in this struggle. I've been a listener for years now, a paying one for most of them. It'll be a sad day if you have to close up shop; leaving me without my favourite (and mostly only) radio channel I listen to.
4:31 PM
Anonymous said...

It will be a shame if we lose DI. But then they tried the same stuff with Napster and look what happened there. Nothings for free anymore. You can tell by the increase of ads that DI has had to run over the past year in order to pay for operations.
Time to move Ari. Either to Canada, or the EU. Set up a mirror site overseas, make it active, and then when and if (most likely when) the time comes, you just shut one down and continue with the other. Sure your hooked on NY, its your home, but trust me Canada is pretty nice too. You will probably like Toronto, or Calgary or Vancouver if you want to come out west.
By the looks of it, "free" internet radio is going the way of the dodo bird. Time for everyone to cough up if they want to hear the music.
On the good side, by being the "CEO" of such a business that already has an "addicted" audience, your paycheque can only get fatter.
I admire the struggle to keep internet radio free, but theres just too much money going around these days and everyone wants a piece.
All I ask is that you keep your rates low when the time comes, so I can afford this. Or else I will be forced to bounce from pirate radio to pirate radio.
Thanks Ari, its been a slice.
4:48 PM
Andrew said...

Just wrote my congresspersons. You should let people know about this by ads on the show.
5:53 PM
Anonymous said...

Do you really want to have just a few big corporations playing the music for you in the future?


This is a very vague statement if you ask me...

I dont want to burst your bubble Ari but your not the only online radio out there. There is plenty more reliable I could say better quality Radios then DI.FM

But the again this is my opinion, so please respect that. I hope it works out for you and di.
9:05 PM