Save Internet Radio!

This one totally passed me right by, but today is a “Day of Silence” to save internet radio. Why should we care about the corporate takeover of web radio? Because people that can’t get radio stations on the airwaves anymore and folks (community run women and people of color stations) that have been put out of business by companies like Clear Channel, have gone to internet radio. But now internet radio is at risk as well.
via Wired News.

Barring Congressional intervention or the success of one of the many appeals of the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision, Internet radio will die on July 15th, when payments under the new scheme are due, though SoundExchange recently back-pedaled a bit by exempting small webcasters until 2010. (It’s worth noting that SoundExchange collects royalties for all artists and labels, so webcasters can’t even stay online by refusing to webcast music from RIAA bands.)
However, no music doesn’t mean that all webcasters will go offline completely. For instance, KCRW plans to air a loop of an hour-long discussion of the copyright royalty situation called “D-Day for Webcaster (there was talk of me appearing near the beginning of the show to introduce the situation, but the timing didn’t work out — bummer).

Also according to the Media Action Center at YMC:

The new rates mean fewer outlets to get the music and diversity we don’t hear on broadcast radio. Putting webcasters out of business will only hurt artists more. They depend on Internet radio to get their music out to fans and build new audiences. When the webcasters go off the air, so do artists.
This is particularly alarming for youth, women and communities of color that have been pushed out of any meaningful participation in broadcast radio. A recent study by Free Press found that despite compromising 51% of the U.S. population, women only control 6% of commercial radio stations. Racial or ethnic minorities make up 33% of the population but own just 7% of radio stations. For our communities, saving Internet radio is a matter of maintaining power in a media system wherein we have so little already. It means making sure we have choices and control over who and what we hear. It means radio belongs to everyone, not just who can afford it.

You can take action here.