On March 2, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) announced the new rates for Internet broadcasters who wish to continue broadcasting their radio stations over the internet. Stations are now expected to pay $.0011 per play of every song (per play=per listener/per song) we play. That means for EVERY listener, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If 4 people are listening while the station plays a song, the broadcaster has to pay 4 times for that song. This would mean a station with an average of a mere 30 listeners at any given time will be required to pay more than $380 per month to continue broadcasting in 2007. This rate also increases every year, and is retroactive to January 2006. This increase is going to put many broadcasters off the air permanently. Why?

Most internet broadcasters do this as a hobby. We do it to play the music we like, and to promote the artists we like. In the case of Renegade Retro, it offers music that is simply not available in central Maine, USA. With FCC deregulation, most terrestrial stations have been bought out by national corporations, which supply their satellite feeds and dictate what our region will hear. There are 3 stations I can tune in on my dial that are playing exactly the same thing, all the time. Variety is gone. This occurs nationally. Stations like Renegade Retro have sprung up to fill the void that is missing, and to provide airplay to artists that otherwise receive very little in the current radio scene.

With these changes, this hobby will simply become to expensive for thousands of broadcasters to continue. And as stations shut down, listeners will move to other less crowded stations. This will in turn increase their per play costs, causing their expenses to rise, in turn causing them to shut down as costs get out of hand. A domino effect will occur until only the very rich remain. Those are the same corporations that are currently controlling terrestrial radio. Aside from us finding ourselves in the same situation with internet radio as we are already in with terrestrial radio, those stations will expect all listeners to PAY to listen. Diversity is being killed with this rate increase.

This rate increase is neither fair nor reasonable. We ask that everyone join us in our fight against this rate increase. Our stations attempt to contribute back to the artists that we play by offering links to purchase all music that we play through sites like Amazon. We expose new listeners to music they may have never experienced before, and we draw in past fans who may not have heard the music in a long time. We are free promotion for the artists that we feature.

Visit http://www.savenetradio.org for information and details on how you can help. You can also place the following graphic wherever possible to raise awareness:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/nwmetal/savenetradioad.gif

On March 2, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) announced the new rates for Internet broadcasters who wish to continue broadcasting their radio stations over the internet. Stations are now expected to pay $.0011 per play of every song (per play=per listener/per song) we play. That means for EVERY listener, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If 4 people are listening while the station plays a song, the broadcaster has to pay 4 times for that song. This would mean a station with an average of a mere 30 listeners at any given time will be required to pay more than $380 per month to continue broadcasting in 2007. This rate also increases every year, and is retroactive to January 2006. This increase is going to put many broadcasters off the air permanently. Why?

Most internet broadcasters do this as a hobby. We do it to play the music we like, and to promote the artists we like. In the case of Renegade Retro, it offers music that is simply not available in central Maine, USA. With FCC deregulation, most terrestrial stations have been bought out by national corporations, which supply their satellite feeds and dictate what our region will hear. There are 3 stations I can tune in on my dial that are playing exactly the same thing, all the time. Variety is gone. This occurs nationally. Stations like Renegade Retro have sprung up to fill the void that is missing, and to provide airplay to artists that otherwise receive very little in the current radio scene.

With these changes, this hobby will simply become to expensive for thousands of broadcasters to continue. And as stations shut down, listeners will move to other less crowded stations. This will in turn increase their per play costs, causing their expenses to rise, in turn causing them to shut down as costs get out of hand. A domino effect will occur until only the very rich remain. Those are the same corporations that are currently controlling terrestrial radio. Aside from us finding ourselves in the same situation with internet radio as we are already in with terrestrial radio, those stations will expect all listeners to PAY to listen. Diversity is being killed with this rate increase.

This rate increase is neither fair nor reasonable. We ask that everyone join us in our fight against this rate increase. Our stations attempt to contribute back to the artists that we play by offering links to purchase all music that we play through sites like Amazon. We expose new listeners to music they may have never experienced before, and we draw in past fans who may not have heard the music in a long time. We are free promotion for the artists that we feature.

Visit http://www.savenetradio.org for information and details on how you can help. You can also place the following graphic wherever possible to raise awareness:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/nwmetal/savenetradioad.gif


Damn straight.

Another regulation of freedom.

Bulls**t!

George Orwell's "1984" was only 23 years off the mark! Big Brother is here...NOW! And he MUST be STOPPED!!!