“Yahoo! Inc. and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit may shut down their Web radio services after being hit with a 38 percent increase in royalties to air music,” Meg Tirrell reports for Bloomberg.
“‘We’re not going to stay in the business if cost is more than we make long term,’ Ian Rogers, general manager at Yahoo’s music unit, said in an interview,” Tirrell reports.
“Yahoo and AOL stopped directing users to their radio sites after SoundExchange, the Washington-based group representing artists and record labels, began collecting the higher fees in July. Those royalties may stifle the growth of Internet radio, which increased listeners 39 percent in the past year, according to researcher ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia,” Tirrell reports.
“SoundExchange, which represents record companies including Sony BMG, Warner Music Group Corp., and Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, sought the royalty increase amid a drop in industry revenue. U.S. sales of compact discs fell 20 percent from 2004 to 2006, according to data from the Recording Industry Association of America,” Tirrell reports.
Full article here.
The greedy bastard music cartels are committing suicide in slo-mo before our very eyes. It’s a macabre show, but oh, so satisfying! 
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. – W. Edwards Deming
what’s wrong with those music studios? they don’t have to fly private jets in 1-5-10 years.
Surprised they don’t charge for humming.
Aaargh – don’t give them ideas!!!
I’m starting to think that the only logical reaction to the music cartels these days is to “JUST SAY NO” to any and every thing they come up with… there as bad as the republicans and there christian fascist enablers!
@therepguy
You blasphemous dog, for that post you get forty lashes and 60 days in a cell with Mike Huckabee.
therepguy,
The irony that “Just Say No” was created and championed by former First Lady Nancy Reagan is apparently lost on you, as is obviously the meaning and proper usage of the word “they’re” as opposed to “there.” I won’t confuse you further (if that’s even possible) with “their.”
Yup, you’re about as educated as the average knee-jerk liberal.
Chuckle = Troll.
@Algr
Everything Chuckle said is correct and easily checked for its factualness. What does Algr = ?
The few music industry execs i have had the pleasure of meeting have left me with the unpleasant feeling of needing to wash my hands. Small sample i know– but design with most of the indi’s have been a pleasant experience. The indi’s may not have the fat budgets, but i have seldom felt shafted.
I find it interesting and amusing that if someone makes a comment that doesn’t support the right wing, they are (they’re) considered a knee-jerk liberal as though their opinion was made in a hasty manner without forethought. We may consider the hasty manner in which the nation was embroiled in an invasion of a former ally without proof of wrong doing and hasty manner that legislation (The Patriot Act) was enacted without being read by the entire Congress. I may surmise that these actions be considered knee-jerk were they not so well planned out.
Perhaps I should have said … not so well planned. I apologize to the ‘grammar police’, liberal and conservative.
Perhaps I should have said … not so well planned. I apologize to the ‘grammar police’, liberal and conservative.
Perhaps I should have said … not so well planned. I apologize to the ‘grammar police’, liberal and conservative.
Perhaps I should have said … not so well planned. I apologize to the ‘grammar police’, liberal and conservative.
Perhaps I should have said … not so well planned. I apologize to the ‘grammar police’, liberal and conservative.
If its not in iTunes I’m not buying. So there!
“factualness?” Hmmmm.
“factualness?” Hmmmm.
“factualness?” Hmmmm.
“factualness?” Hmmmm.
“factualness?” Hmmmm.
Original Shiva,
Yawn. Is that the best you’ve got?
They really should require an IQ test before they allow people to vote (and reproduce and drive).
Unfortunately, that bit of sanity won’t come to pass in this insanely stupid country, but it won’t matter, since you idiots seem to be well on your way to shooting yourselves in the foot, yet again, by putting up the unelectable Hilary and/or Obama.
@Original Shiva
Read the comment of therepguy, to whom Chuckle was responding. He used the phrase ‘Just Say No’ which was the catchphrase of Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug campaign. He then compared the behavior of music companies to “republicans and there christian fascist enablers.”
Grammar questions aside, it wasn’t right wingers that steered the conversation to partisan politics. And as I said before, everything Chuckle said was correct. Call it what you will.
Someone is going to pick up the pieces with a new model of record label that benefits consumers, artists, and themselves last. If they are satisfied with getting wealthy as opposed to stinking rich, and if they’re more concerned about the music than their wallets, they’ll take over the industry.
@Original Shiva
Factualness. Yes factualness. Do yourself a favor and stop digging.