October 2002

Death is Never Pretty
Why I am sad to see Lounge Radio go away

Why am I pissed off these days? Because on Wednesday, October 9th, I received an e-mail stating this: "It's hard to say but dj carsten and me decided to close the service tonight for ever." This came from the guys at Lounge Radio, which until recently was linked to directly from the Evilrobots.com home page. I have been a HUGE fan of Lounge Radio since I first found it. Lounge Radio provided streaming music over the internet to everyone. You could not copy the music, but you could enjoy the stream and find music to love.

This is yet another webcasting station that died at the hands of over-zealous legislators heeding the word of the recording industry. In the US and Switzerland, web-radio DJ's are expected to pay royalties to record companies. That, in and of itself, is not wrong. But what's wrong is charging web-radio stations to play their impossible-to-copy music when the easily-copied radio stations are exempted from paying such fees!

I have always argued that impossible-to-copy web radio can only be good for record companies. DJ's such as those who operated Lounge Radio played a large variety of music from various labels, independent and giant alike. By giving the name of the band and title of the song, the DJ helped those interested in good music on their way to owning it.

Bands like Mettalica, with slumping record sales and receding hairlines, make great poster (monkey) boys for the 'evils' of the internet. They parade themselves in front of congress and tell people a sad story about thieves and gremlins that are going to destroy their livelihood. God damn hypocrites!

"What can I do to help?" you ask. There is little anyone can do anymore. On October 20th, the first royalty payments from internet radio providers is due. The tax, retroactive back FOUR YEARS, is a charge of .ooo7 cents per listener song. That may not sound like much, but for anyone who has been playing music on the web for four years for free, it adds up to tons of green.

This is an example of what happens when greed is left unchecked and revenge is misdirected.

You may still be able to find an good, independent webcast here and there for the next few weeks and months, but by and by the stations will close. Without congressional support or thousands of dollars in cash, these webcasters will be forced to close their links and stay alone at home.

Only by hard work and diligence will people be able to keep the web radio stations streaming us good new music. We need to send donations to your favorite radio stations (I LOVE Dublab.com). People should also continue to lobby their senators and representatives in hope that our collective voices may be heard.

I only hope that someone will be able to challenge the legitimacy of these fees successfully. But if all the stations so silent, then there will be no one left to fight. Please support webcasters and internet radio in any way you can!

Goto www.saveinternetradio.com now!