There have been several PSAs running on TV and of course Radio about the “Performance Tax”. Most specifically, they are against it. The claim is that the tax would put an unneeded strain on the radio stations and more money into the pockets of the record labels (IE the RIAA).
I have no idea of the status of viability of this tax but I do find the whole situation rather hilarious. The RIAA simply has no clue.
They have already been screwing over the artists themselves for years. Cruddy contracts that more or less penalize the artists and load them with debt and fees to help keep them in the pocket of the label forever. Several artists such as Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, and Lily Allen have taken the liberty of shedding their labels and now sell directly to fans through means such as the internet or have started their own label with the needs of the performers in mind.
This doesn’t include the thousands, probably tens of thousands of independent artists who use places like Myspace or MusicAlley to distribute their own work. No, they aren’t “living the high life” of trashed hotel rooms with zillions of dollars and fans but many are making their own way, free of the mess that is the Recording Industry.
Then the RIAA went and screwed over the customers themselves. The random scare tactics of suing soccer moms, dead people, 12 year olds, and college students into welfare with enormous unjustified fees has done nothing for the image of the RIAA in the eyes of the people.
It’s no wonder no one wants to buy music anymore. who wants to support an industry that aimlessly bullies everyone it can.
For what?
Money? The greedy need to support a pointless middleman? If there’s one thing the internet has done for the world it’s killed the needless middleman. Content creators can easily distribute their creations, be it music or video, news or opinion, there’s a way to get your own personal message out there, often at little or no cost.
So with the opinion of it’s practices from the public at an all time high, the RIAA decides to come up with a new scheme to screw even more people. They want to charge new high fees for radio stations playing the music they own. Let’s be clear, most radio stations exists mostly as a vehicle to promote music. Music that gets later sold by the Recording industry. So it certainly makes sense that the Recording Industry would want to charge these stations fees and put many of them out of business.
And putting them out of business isn’t a glamour opinion to drum up support, it’s a fact. Itunes, Youtube, Podcasts, streaming internet radio, these are all putting a huge hurt on the radio station industry. This coupled with the ease of flipping channels during commercials means many of these stations don’t make hardly anything and are already struggling to keep afloat as it is. This is an industry that is already failing fast, now you want to inject it with a lethal dose of poison.
Despite the problems radio faces, it’s still a viable source for the promotion of music. How did i choose which music to buy the other day from Amazon? I’d heard the songs on the radio first.
Of course, maybe it is the plan of the RIAA to kill off many local stations. If these stations go under they can snatch them up cheap and push out a repeated signal all over the nation. This would give them more control over what people hear. Who needs those “90s at Noon” blocks when we need to push more of the current hits?
Here’s a solution. Let the RIAA have it’s tax. If it’s a Recording industry based initiative, then it shouldn’t apply to independent sources. Instead of playing the Top 40 Countdown with Ryan Seacrest, play the music of local independent artists. College Radio stations are notorious for doing this and I often hunt out those stations for that reason. Lots of fun new sounds can be heard on these stations.
Also, extend out to Podcasters to fill larger blocks of time. I’m sure you could syndicate a few popular shows for a nominal fee, especially next to the fees the recording industry wants to charge for it’s songs. The point is, let the RIAA have it’s fees, just stop using the RIAA’s content as a result.
Hey, it worked for Radiohead.
