Day of Internet Radio Silence is today

So if you are wondering why your streaming radio isn’t working today, it is because today is the day of radio silence. Techwag thinks that this is a great idea, and maybe one that will not do much. But solidarity in any group is a good thing.

The real problem is what is an acceptable royalty that allows innovation, and pays the creator of the media a fair amount of money. That is the root cause of the issue, is a 400% raise in royalties justified?

The other issue is that no one is immune. By this we mean that the local college radio station that lives by donations has to pay as much as a clear channel radio station. Artists who release their stuff without expecting royalties will have royalties attached to Creative Commons released music.

We suggest that every artist, every single musician, hit up the major record companies who are collecting royalties in their name and learn how to pick up the money. Don’t just let it fester in a music industry controlled account, its your money, go get it.

In the mean time, there are some that are not going to join in, and that is cool too. This is a business, and if they do not think that they can afford a day of down time, then we should all be respecting that decision along the way.

Last.FM is a company that will not be joining in, but this is also a chance to use/learn about Last.FM, and give them a little love too, they made a tough choice, and zigged when the industry zagged.

Overall all, techwag is following the story, and it is a story about money, greed, big music, little music, streaming radio, royalties, and who is going to blink first. In other words all the things that makes a story great.