Steve,

I can't agree more.  When I first tried a few weeks or so ago, it was just
copyright
issues of sorts.  When I tried last week, it was about the copyrights of radio
advertisements.
Can't wait for it to get sorted out so I can listen to my music from other areas
in the state
and out of state (state of mind that is).  I just wonder if they are going to
try and start charging
us for listening on line to recoup whatever costs the ads might try to take from
them (if they
try that is).

Angela Klocek (feline friend of Rita and Veronica Meow!)
Asst. Reference Librarian
St. Clair County Library System
St. Clair County Michigan

Steve Zielinski wrote:

> Yet another example where the greed for profits misses an opportunity to
> enhance growth.
>
> Steve
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 01:16:14 -0500
> From: Reagan D. Lynch <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet NFB-Talk Mailing List
>     <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Where did my radio station go?
>
> I have seen discussion on this list about people going to their favorite
> radio station online.  Then being told that the station is not streaming the
> audio due to copyright issues.  Well I hope this article from The Industry
> Standard helps to make that internet broadcast blackout sound a little
> clearer.
>
> Streaming Hits a Snag
>
> Conflicts over Net-ad royalty payments have prompted radio's big players to
> pull the plug on their live Web feeds. Web ad-insertion companies could end
> up as the winners in this scenario - and so might
> the stations themselves.
>
> By Julene Snyder
>
> If you believe Kurt Hanson's take, the big radio conglomerates' decision
> earlier this month to pull their live Web feeds to avoid paying Net ad
> royalties is an indication of an industry in a crisis.
>
> Web radio listeners were undoubtedly disappointed in mid-April when hundreds
> of radio stations yanked their broadcast content offline, citing the fees
> the American Federation of Television and Radio
> Artists requires them to pay ad agencies to compensate union actors for the
> use of on-air ads online. MeasureCast, a company that tracks streaming radio
> audience size and demographics, says the total number
> of hours of online radio broadcasts declined by 6 percent last week.  But
> according to Hanson, a radio market researcher and consultant who runs a
> daily Web publication covering the industry, the radio stations
> didn't necessarily have to pull their live broadcasts from the Web - they
> could have found another way to broadcast ads online without paying fees.
>
> After pulling the Web feeds, Kevin Mayer, CEO of Clear Channel Internet
> Group, said in a brief statement that his company - the largest radio
> station owner in the U.S. - will bring back its Internet
> radio streams "when it makes legal and financial sense." One way to do this,
> Hanson suggests, is for the stations to sign up with ad-insertion companies
> that can replace the on-air ads with spots
> designed specifically to be broadcast on the Internet. AFTRA spokesman
> Matthis Dunn says the union has no problem with radio stations entirely
> replacing terrestrial commercials with Internet-only ads on
> their Webcasts. Clear Channel is reportedly in the process of selecting and
> deploying ad-insertion technology.
>
> These technologies could open up another revenue stream for radio stations
> that broadcast live online. Ad-insertion companies like Everstream,
> Lightningcast and iBeam Broadcasting charge Webcasters a
> fee of as little as $300 a month, or a percentage of the station's revenue.
> Once the service is set up, all a DJ has to do is flip a
> switch to send each type of ad to either terrestrial airwaves or the Net.
>
> While ad-insertion companies may have hit pay dirt, the radio stations
> themselves might benefit as well. "They've been looking for a way to charge
> their advertisers extra to be included on a Webcast," Hanson
> says. "Now they're free to charge those extra fees."
>
> Online-only radio stations like Spinner Networks, Launch.com and SonicNet
> aren't affected by any of the brouhaha, since ads created and streamed
> strictly for an online audience are exempted from the
> additional royalty fees. Last week, Webcaster Digital Club Network announced
> a plan to deliver live concert broadcasts to radio broadcasters; because the
> company owns all the copyrights to its live
> music content, it can license those streams with impunity.
>
> For now, Hanson is predicting that at least some stations will hook up with
> an ad-insertion vendor and start streaming online again within the next few
> months. In the meantime, online radio aficionados
> listening in their offices can seek out Internet-only stations or just lean
> over and turn on their actual terrestrial radio. That is, of
> course, if they can pick up the signal from inside layers of corporate
> walls.
>
> Read more at http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,23671,00.html
>
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