We were invited to participate in a DAY OF SILENCE--TUESDAY June 26, 2007
We don't want to go silent despite the fact that we are philosophically in line with the intent. The Day of Silence is designed to do two things: 1) gain media attention for the plight of webcasters and 2) get listeners who have not contacted their congress persons to do so before it is too late. I figure that if you're not interested enough to contact your congress person then it really isn't all that important whether the Internet becomes music-less to you. I desire to continue offering Beach Music--the best of it, all of it and will for as long as possible.
To recap: The RIAA (owned by the five major record companies) is trying to get money to replace what they've lost in sales the last 15 years. (They say it's to get more money for the 'artists'. There are innumerable websites where Artists state they have *never* received their royalties. In the Beach Music World this is especially true).
Look very closely now--the RIAA "purports" to be doing this to get more money for artists. That, they say, is why they want the fees raised. Let's look closer. The Endless Summer Network, if it has to pay retroactive fees to January 2006 (as we are all required to do on July 15th) will have to cough up approximately $780,000.00 !!!! Have you heard us running that many commercials!!! Have you seen that many banner ads on our website?
Then, to continue, we would have to spend approximately $75,000 per month this year, $90,000 per month next year, and $130,000 per month the following year. This should give a hint to those of you who have graciously offered to pay fees to listen that it is IMPOSSIBLE. In other words, the RIAA's alleged aim is an impossibility! If they had an equitable, sensible fee structure, there would be 100,000 webcasters spending, let's say, a base of $500 per year. That's $50,000,000.00--Fifty Million!!!!!
If the RIAA implements their strategy, however, there will be $00.00. Which one is more? 50 Million or Zero?
Not only that, if the RIAA set it up so that webcasters paid like they must pay BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, then they'd pay a percentage of their gross income. Frankly, a great many of these webcasters make little or no money. (And they certainly aren't providing High Quality Digital copies of music to their listeners--one of the things that was wrong with the original Digital Millenium Bill by Clinton, Gore and associates. A 32 kbps copy of a song--which is standard for almost all of the webcasters on the net--is nothing compared to the 128 kbps or 198 kbps standard for CDs and high quality digital).
But, let's say that Webcasters were required to pay a base license of $500 each. I don't see anything wrong with that. $500 to get into the game. That's cheaper than most Texas Hold 'Em games. Then each webcaster has to pay, and I'm approximating here, 4% of their gross per year as a performance fee. My guess is that most webcasters would still make very little money in a year. However, to pay the $500 license fee might inspire a bunch of them to make a little more headway in advertising.
However, let's say that only 25% of the 100,000 webcasters make any advertising money. That's 25,000 webcasters.
Let's say that 60% of them make $5000 @ in a year = $75,000,000 x 4% = $3,000,000.
Let's say that 20% make $20,000 @ /yr = $100,000,000 x 4% = $4,000,000.
10% make $150,000 @ yr = $375,000,000 X 4% = $15,000,000.
And, as is always the case, the top 10% make $500,000 @ per year (there would be some notable exceptions well beyond, but we're just looking for ballpark numbers here) = $1,250,000,000 (one billion, 250 million) x 4% = $50,000,000.
Got it.
50,000,000 + 22,000,000 + 50,000,000 = $122,000,000.00 in revenues to split among singers and performers. One hundred twenty two million dollars or Zero. Which one is more?
Yet the RIAA has GUARANTEED that no one can afford the new rates (which are calculated by *everyone* as being about 125% of the best gross incomes out there, and that's just for this year. They have it worked out so it goes up about 30% over the next 3-4 years. Know any other companies that are projecting to increase their gross income by 30% in the next 36 months?)
This should also demonstrate to everyone that 'something else' is going on! Do you smell the reek of something very very rotten?
There are over 100,000 webcasters (probably more) who will be shut down July 15th. You can be certain that none of us can afford these pay-per-play-per-listener fees. The RIAA knows that. They want us Out Of Business because they cannot control what we play!!!! Recognize this strategy? This is what Beach music has suffered from Day One back in 1945. The record companies don't like the fact that we have always flipped over records (78s and 45s) or dug deeper into albums, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs, and now MP3s, to find stuff we like to dance and party to. They don't like it when we go back 10, 20, 30 or more years to find something we like. Why? They don't make any money on that stuff. They want us to buy the latest Hip Hop stuff. (Because they *believe* in Hip Hop? Love it? Promote it? Hell no. It's the only thing left that they know how to invest in. And they are having a difficult time selling Hip Hop now).
If the RIAA can get rid of the webcasters it will be a major coup for them. Then they can whip the Radio Stations into shape (which has already begun, by the way).
Radio stations have thought they were immune to all of this until about 6 weeks ago. Then they began to catch on--but not many of them. It hasn't *really* sunk in yet. They won't be permitted on the net either, unless they pay very very high fees (impossibly high). The traditional licensing folks: BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC are now increasing their rates up to 300% and a little more. (A friend who owns radio stations called me in utter shock last week when he got his bill).
I'm not going into the whole Record industry story here, but suffice it to say that if the RIAA gets its way, it will control almost all airplay on radio stations. It's simple, folks. Record companies hire promoters, inside and independent, to promote songs. Get a promoter to get to the 'dream team' at Clear Channel (a group of about 6 people) and suddenly 1100 of the absolute Top radio stations are doing what the RIAA wants -- and they WILL do it. There are only a few new songs coming out week to week and it's not difficult to influence what the stations play. The smaller stations consult the trades (Radio and Records, one of the two prime tipsheets, has been owned by Clear Channel for years and only THEIR radio stations report). Did someone in the back yell "incest"? You got it.
This will not work with Beach Music of course because we have our own standards -- which are Dance-based. The record companies can't get DJs to play their stuff just because its "New," "Good," and has a great video on MTV and YouTube.
The Endless Summer Network is about to launch new services to be sure that you know the Title and Artist of each selection. We were also about to launch a 62 year history of Beach Music, counting down the Top 40 of every year with lots of bios and history each week for 62 straight weeks. We were going to add a number of specials: The Disco Years, Cowboy Shag, The Evolution of the Bands, etc. etc. We've been working on this a long long time. To go with the special broadcasts, we are publishing a set of books called the Beach Music Guide 1945-2006. We were also launching a series of Live Remote broadcasts to run on ESN from various locations in the Mid Atlantic, Southeast, and South.
And Why Not? The ESN has the single largest Beach Music audience of anyone. We know it. We just don't throw it in your face all day. Why should we? You ARE the audience.
WHERE WILL ALL THIS END? The possible truth is, the ESN may disappear on July 15th (believe me, I don't have 3/4 million dollars. We've bankrolled this for over 3 years in the belief that it would be profitable eventually. We've been preparing to make ESN the broadest, deepest Beach Music experience possible).
If Internet Radio disappears, the Terrestrial radio stations will be under the gun. Sooner or later, they'll have to have their own Week of 'Silence' in which they don't play any of the licensed music of the Big 5 of the RIAA. It will cost them some listeners and some money--but not even a fraction of what it will cost them in the exploded fees and control the RIAA wants to exercise.
However!!! There is one other possibility! We might live in a universe where it's safe to assume that we can continue to hear Beach Music over the Net (after all we are exposing folks to hundreds of artists that never make the traditional broadcast outlets). We are not opposed to paying a performance fee with the same basic mathematics as the BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC fees. We're not opposed to seeing singers get money for what they do as well as songwriters, composers, and arrangers.
For this to happen, though, YOU have to contact your Congresspersons right now and encourage them to back the Internet Radio Equality bill (click on the link to netradio.org below).
Otherwise, the Internet is going to Stay Silent after July 15th. No music. Anywhere. There will be a few who try to sneak under the radar...and they will face massive fines as well as jail. Talk to your congress persons.....Today.
(Remember Simon and Garfunkel? "Hello, darkness, my old friend......the Sounds of Silence....")
--John Hook
