WebProNews

Joe,

I think you're spot on in this regard. Full disclosure: I used to help run Live365 and I'm launching a new business that intends (intended?) to take advantage of the DMCA's compulsory license for webcasting. But this recent ruling makes little sense.

Compared with terrestrial radio (which pays $0 to the labels and performing artists for use of their works), internet radio provides a way for labels to get paid twice! The big 4 and indies and unsigned artist get paid not only for the discovery/promotion of their works but also when a user clicks to buy a download (something that, further, isn't even available through terrestrial radio). There's an enormous opportunity for artists of all strips, for a little-known band in Des Moines to make enough from their passion to make a living, for the first time.

But, thanks to the recent CRB ruling, many internet radio providers will be forced to shut down their businesses, removing both an important (and possibly, soon, the primary) means for promotion of artists' music and opportunities for direct, immediate sale of those works. It's an unfortunate turn of events and, I'm hopeful, one that will be altered by either a new ruling from the CRB or an act of Congress.