Internet Radio May Stream North to Canada 73
An anonymous reader writes "With U.S. copyright royalties threatening to kill Internet radio in the U.S., Michael Geist explains why webcasters considering a move to Canada will find that the legal framework for Internet radio trades costs for complexity. There are two main areas of concern from a Canadian perspective — broadcast regulation and copyright fees. The broadcast side is surprisingly regulation-free, but there are at least three Canadian copyright collectives lining up to collect from Internet radio stations."
Socan (Score:2, Insightful)
We'd all like to live in a society where culture is free and ubiquitous. Squeezing greedy record companies out of the equation with modern technology is a no-brainer. But let's not forget that organizations like SOCAN are what allow artists to support themselves. Without the revenues that royalties provide, artists can't support themselves. Personally, I'm more they're likely to find a job riding a desk than to "starve for my art".
Someone has to pay for art, and that someone is all of us who enjoy it.
So let me get this straight ... (Score:2, Insightful)
North? (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh the irony (Score:3, Insightful)
The world is bigger than North America... (Score:3, Insightful)
I give up (Score:2, Insightful)
Truth is, everyone can sign all the petitions they want, send all the letters to Congress that they want, but at the end of the day it's still David & Goliath. And I don't like those odds, regardless of how that first David did. I just ran a radio station as a hobby, and it got damned popular for a small-scale, self-financed project. But it's over-regulated and too expensive now.
Fight "the man" you say? Why bother? I don't have the resources or time to do that. It was a fun hobby, that's all. Someone with money and power wants to kill my hobby? Let 'em have it. I've got better things to do with my time, and I damn sure have better things to do with my money. Let someone else fight it.
Stream indie content? Not my bag, man. Besides, there's lots of that already happening. Nobody streamed the content I had solely in the format I programmed - 50's & 60's oldies & nothing else. Groundbreaking? No, but fun? Oh, yeah. But it ain't as much fun as these fees and regulations. Keep it, I quit.
That's what's going to happen to internet radio.
It was fun while it lasted. RIP, RockDoggy Radio.