Utter sheer amazement, the sad part is that it is perfectly true, the music industry is all over radio right now to pay royalties for the first time ever; saying not to pay the artists for air time is tantamount to piracy.

The interesting part, read the wired story here, is that while Rome burns down to the ground, artists are playing around with new revenue models, people have completely altered how they search and consume music, the real question is just how viable is plain old radio on top of that. While independent stations might get a break in the annual fee’s, the larger radio stations will end up with the very short end of the stick if this kind of thing happens.

Many issues on how people can use their own digital media, or someone else’s digital media in what was formerly a fairly dull industry of payola, excess, and the host of other things that go along with it. One cannot but look at all these “last acts of a desperate company” and wonder where music is really going to go.

If we have to play something every time we start it off, that is going to be a real problem down the road, the money is just not there, at 99 cents or at any cost. Some will be able to afford it, but not many. Frankly, if radio is piracy, then we are all in for a very long dark night in relationship to copyright, what we buy, what we listen to, and the entertainment that we might just enjoy.

Gone will be the days of listening to the radio to hear a new band, gone will be the days of streaming radio in the office, gone will be many things that have been a way of life for everyone since the time radio was invented. So much to lose, for everyone.