Riding Out the Storm

Internet radio's current situation involving the royalty rates has certainly been much like trying to paddle a canoe in the ocean during a thunderstorm.

There's a lot of emotion involved on the part of the broadcasters. Which I totally understand, in case you wondered about that. Many of us have poured our hearts, time and money into creating and maintaining our stations.

I don't know who decided who the witnesses for the webcasters would be, but
the webcasting side was weak in the arguments. There's still the myth that
webcasters are pirating music, which couldn't be any further from the truth in
many cases. Delta Star Radio, under the old Delta Star Christian Radio and later the WJJD Country Giant formats, have paid royalties to Live365, even when it was voluntary. In the early days, it was $5 a month. Many of us did pay it, in order to offset Live365's burden, and because we were generating the content.

Today I feel a little relief - WJJD owes "0" retroactively, being under the Live365 umbrella. Which is a good thing, as our total income for WJJD was just a little over $300...for ALL of 2006. It's made nothing since last June, despite the surge in listenership.

So, for those of you reading the SoundExchange filings and thinking. 'Yeah, those greedy webcasters should be forced to pay..', well, I've easily spent well over $5k on studio equipment, the music library, streaming, and royalties.
And in return, I got $312. For an entire year.

I'm riding out the storm as best I can. I'll keep the webcast going as long as I possibly can. No one knows what the new rates to maintain our stations will be.

I recently sought out some practical advice from engineers. In my next post, I'll tell you EXACTLY what he suggested if I want to have any future at all in
the world of broadcasting, which seems hell-bent on self-destructing..unless other forces kill it first.

This picture ain't pretty.