CARP Crap
As many of you know, the Librarian of Congress has until May 21 to either accept or reject the recommendations of the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (“CARP”) concerning Internet radio royalty rates and record-keeping requirements.
Barring an unseasonable drop in temperature in hell and the subsequent transformation of H2O from liquid to solid form, Radio Free Tiny Pineapple will be going dark on or around May 21st. RFTP will simply revert to what it was in the beginning: a way for me to listen to my CDs at work. You just won’t be able to listen in anymore.
That’s a shame because, based on the traffic and fan mail that we get, it is obvious that RFTP is meeting the needs of a niche that is poorly-served by conventional broadcasters.
It is also obvious, based on the number of CD purchases at Amazon.com that are made by RFTP listeners linking directly from our site, that RFTP is generating quite a bit of revenue for the record labels. (And who knows how much revenue we’re generating indirectly? I think Jonatha Brooke owes me a car.)
Still, I do believe that artists should be compensated for their works, and if artists (by way of their labels and the RIAA) feel that the CARP recommendations are the best way to facilitate that, who am I to say otherwise?
As Goethe once said, “There ain’t no fighting The Man…”
Additional Links:
- The New York Times’ “Panel’s Ruling on Royalties Is Setback for Web Radio Services” (Requires free registration.)
- CNET’s “ Webcasters Grumble Over Proposed Fees”
- Robert X. Cringely’s “Internet Radio is Dead — Long Live Internet Radio!”
- SaveInternetRadio.net
Comments
Kate
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
Chris
What am I supposed to do while I’m writing my thesis? What am I supposed to do while I mindlessly surf the internet? What am I supposed to do, period?! Excuse me while I openly weep in the computer lab…
Bob
I think even Elvis Costello himself would be tired of hearing himself so much in one day!
Grettir
Sorry about the Elvis assault. Winamp’s “random” function doesn’t appear to be very random today. Occasionally Winamp will go haywire and keep returning to certain regions of the playlist. It appears to be favoring the letter “E” today. Neil Finn has been getting more than his fair share of airplay today, too.
Perhaps it’s time for a restart…
Alex
It’s too bad that greed gets in the way of reason. Internet radio is cool, but it is more than that.
I had never heard of Dar Williams before Tiny Pineapple… I really like her, so much so that I bought one of her CDs.
The point is that though the music publishers and the artists may think they may be winning, I say if internet radio is knocked of the air the listners and the publishers and artists will lose.
I may have found Dar some other way other than Tiny Pineapple, or perhaps I would have never found her at all.
I agree that the publishers and the artists deserve their nickel, but a lot of the ‘stations’ like Tiny Pineapple are not in it for the money and therefore should be viewed differently than the ‘commercial’ internet stations.
Whats the answer?? I don’t know, but shutting down internet radio (and Tiny Pineapple) will not be a good thing for me.
Alex
David
I too will weep openly. Tiny Pineapple has been a breath of fresh ‘air’ (every radio pun intended).
It’s only in venues like this where a listener who needs more than the same old ‘best hits of this millenium’ or the continuous drones of homogenous-big-record company-neatly-genre-organized-drivle-du-jour can come for something truely different and unique. Quite simply it’s where people, who really love music and not just a music style or artist, can come to build a real record library by hearing artists they can’t hear anywhere else.
I hope we somehow meet again TP. Thanks for playing.
Katsura
This is awful news. RFTP has kept me going since I found it last fall in the computer lab at school while slogging through Adobe Classroom In A Book hell.
I too have bought CD’s because of RFTP. I hope the CARP backers choke on their profits.
LONG LIVE THE TINY PINEAPPLE!!!!
Dr GoatEye
yes it is sad. tho you need to play more frank sinatra and unholy grim evil black metal, of course.