Wednesday, May 30, 2007

THE RIAA WILL DESTROY MUSIC

If you don't believe me, read this article from Davey D about the future plan to corporatize cyberspace and shut down Internet radio, a format that greatly increases listenership of small stations as well as allows breaks from the tsunami of mediocrity that floods our dials.

I understand that they want to make money for their artists, but they must realize that they can't make money for their artists, many of whom benefit from these smaller fora, if they don't give them a place where they can be heard. Mainstream stations are not interested in playing the new release from Lightning Bolt or CSS or playing classic Liliput. Yes, noise and swiss post-punk doesn't really hold a lot of interest for the Fergie set; it might make them think about their situation too much and reject the stupidity of Dem Franchise Boyz (I'm not leanin'). Small stations and internet radio made this music available to many voices and groups, as it is music and music is designed to be heard. But, with the new regulations, the stations that used to get CSS out to a larger audience than its 10-watt broadcasting area will no longer be able to do that. Hell, they probably won't be able to pay for the right to play it once let alone enough times for it to get stuck in your head. Additionally, the artists won't make any more money from this new situation. It's bad times all around.

Write your senators, congresspeople, and tell them to do something about this because they are monopolizing music, the unmonopolizable form. And, yes, unmonopolizable is a fake word.