The Wires (Apr 21, 2007)

SoundExchange In Talks With Webcasters. SoundExchange, which collects and distributes music royalties paid by Internet broadcasters, said today that it is in discussions with some commercial and noncommercial webcasters to explore "mutually beneficial business arrangements that help to foster growth of Internet radio and provide fair compensation to creators of music."

Kurt Hanson: RAIN today proposes another "Day of Silence", wherein webcasters, in a unified show of protest against the CRB rates, shut off all of their streams for an entire day to simulate a world without webcasting, not to mention the potential to attract national media attention for our cause. Today's issue of RAIN details why a "Day of Silence" is so vital to our ongoing fight to stay in operation. SoundExchange issues a press release claiming to be in negotiations with webcasters to resolve the CRB mess. A RAIN analysis from Paul Maloney warns against reading too much into what some press outlets are calling an "olive branch" to webcasters. SaveNetRadio.org reports heavy traffic to the site since its Monday launch, as well as promising numbers of artists and concerned listeners petitioning their representatives in Congress.

SaveNetRadio.org Exceeds Goal (Apr 20, 2007)

More than 3,500 artists that depend on Net radio have also joined the fight to preserve music diversity and called on their Congressional representatives to take action.

The 3 millionth visitor to savenetradio.org was recorded today

The Wires (Apr 20, 2007)

Legendary radio personality and current Movin 93.9/Los Angeles morning host Rick Dees has been inducted into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Dees was inducted yesterday (4/18) during the NAB 2007 Radio Luncheon in Las Vegas.

KHTS 'Your Show Eight' Is Close. Who cares?

Hear 2.0: It's not radio, it's not satellite radio, and it's not Internet radio - it's all of the above, and it's personalized. That's the best way to describe Slacker.com, the transformational new radio experience that will rock the world of radio starting this summer. Mark Ramsey sat down with Jonathan Sasse, marketing head of Slacker.com, and talked about what the service is and why it matters.

The Wires (Apr 19, 2007)

PC World: "The CRB's ill informed decision to increase royalty fees to this unjustifiable level will quite simply bankrupt most webcasters and destroy Internet radio," says the Net radio stations' newly formed coalition, SaveNetRadio.org. SaveNetRadio says the move will increase its member stations' rates between 300 percent and 1200 percent, depending on the station's size (read more - Mike Sullivan-PC World).

Clear Channel Accepts Higher Bid From Buyers. Thomas H. Lee Partners & Bain Capital raise their bid to $39 per share. CC pushes back its shareholder vote again, to May 8.

CD Sales Down 13 Percent In 2006. The continuing sales decline of CDs reached an all-time high in 2006 as sales dropped nearly 13 percent from 2005. While digital download sales keep growing, they were still not enough to make up for the decrease in CD sales, according to figures published by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Tuesday. Sales of music in digital formats such as downloads and mobile ringtones more than doubled in some cases during 2006, but it did not cover the revenue gap caused by the downturn in CD sales. Consequently, overall music sales were down by 6.2 percent to $11.51 billion.

SaveNetRadio Admonishes CRB For 'Ill-Informed' Decision (Apr 18, 2007)

"The CRB's failure to reconsider its ill-informed and flawed March 2 royalty rate increase for webcasters will devastate Internet radio. The panel's ruling was certainly disappointing, though unfortunately not surprising. By casually dismissing the importance of better understanding the impact of their ruling, the CRB reaffirmed the need for immediate Congressional action.

"May 15 will be the first day increased royalty rates take effect and the last day tens of millions of Americans are able to listen to music on thousands of webcasts that will be instantly silent. The savenetradio.org campaign will now take the fight for the future of Internet radio and music diversity on the Internet to Capitol Hill and with the support of millions of listeners, hundreds of thousands of artists and tens of thousands of webcasters, we believe our message will be heard and Net radio saved."

JUST IN...Underwood wins CMT video of year award (Apr 17, 2007)

CRB Denied Motions For Rehearing (Apr 17, 2007)

For the complete CRB order, visit http://www.savenetradio.org/press_room/press_releases/070416-Order_denying.pdf

Live 365 will continue to fight the unfair, ex post facto royalty rates established by the CRB at the request of RIAA and SoundExchange.

Go here for what you can do in our “war on the unfair royalties”: http://www.live365.com/broadcasterchoice (log-in as a broadcaster required). Direct your listeners to http://www.live365.com/choice

Monty

Marketing Manager, Live365

Save Net Radio (April 17, 2007)

"American congressmen really need to hear again and again from constituents offended by the Copyright office's decision. I have been trying to write one letter a week to my congressmen. I believe this issue is far more important to consumer media choice and the future of radio then the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger issue is and Congress has held hearings on that. There is a direct link on this newly revamped site to send letters to congresspeople."

http://www.savenetradio.org/

The Wires (Apr 17, 2007)

Allhiphop.com: Why Don Imus Should Still Have a Job -- Is Don Imus responsible for the cultural climate that aids in the devaluation of your own self image? No. He is only the setup. He’s only the microscope for those who are not intimate for our struggle to dissect our movement. It’s time for Hip-Hop to grow up. To be proactive and not reactionary. To self police and to understand the difference between policing and censoring. Adults should never be censored no matter what they think or how they live as long as it doesn’t infringe on the lives of others. Don Imus’ comments did just that. But not the way you think (read more - O'Diesel - AllHipHop.com).

US News: Let's hope two more changes spring from Imus's firings. First, the major advertisers who pulled their ads from Imus's air should screen all controversial talk shows on which they run ads and pull underwriting from programs whose hosts are routinely derogatory toward groups of Americans based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, etc. Second, the Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights activists who ran the campaign against Don Imus should look inward and demand of the African-American community a zero-tolerance approach toward denigration of women. Any hip-hop artist, male or female, who uses derogatory or hypersexualized language (or pictures in videos) should be boycotted. Sharpton and others should invite white and Hispanic teens (also heavy-duty consumers of these materials) to join the boycott as well (read more - Bonnie Erbet-US News and World Report).

Happy Hare: Imus blundered by going on Reverend Sharpton’s radio program to apologize, only to be slimed by Sharpton. Describing the Rutgers incident, Imus ruefully admitted that he went “too far, way beyond” In Old Testament terms, that is called “transgressing.” One is supposed to forgive “transgressors.” In refusing to forgive Imus, it apparently did not occur to Reverend Sharpton that he was sinning by dissing one of the Commandments that Moses had brought down from the mountain. Another blunder: MSNBC’s deeply affecting hour long broadcast of the Rutgers women’s basketball team expressing their hurt and resentment of Imus’s thoughtless remarks was devastating. If MSNBC had waited another day, it would have given Imus time to apologize to the team. After the team meeting with Imus, Coach Springer said that he was forgiven, and that the meeting was productive. That would have gone a long way toward resolving matters. Imus is not out of “moves.” (read more - www.HappyHareOnline.com).