26 June 2007

The day the music died

When I'm working I sometimes like to have my finetune player on in the background. I love the fact that I can build my own playlists or ask the service to find music for me.

Not today.

Most of us know that savenetradio.org is leading a protest of the royalty rates that will probably shut down a number of webcasters. I'm not an expert on this issue, but I know Alison is. I certainly believe that producers of original content should be recognized and compensated when appropriate. But I also know that there isn't a terrestrial radio station in Kentucky that perfectly fits what I want, and the tools available on the net allow me to make my own choices. I love my XM, but it's the same there -- even with all its content, I don't fit exactly into one channel.

The napster nightmare showed us that if you don't give consumers the choices they want, they'll use technology to make their own. I hope we can maintain a system that makes sure people get appropriately recognized and compensated for original content, while also making tools available for entrepreneurial innovation and consumer choice. And it shouldn't just be the big boys who get to innovate.

Radio shouldn't be a lecture, either.

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