BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
Shock. Disgust. Rage. A few extra beers after work than usual.

Last Friday's CRB ruling has provoked a range of reactions from Webcasters and fans. At some point over the last week, most have probably read some news or made some realization so outrageous, so beyond the realm of imagination, that laughter became the only appropriate (or possible) response.

Enter the newly minted Noisebox site, a manifesto equal parts dark humor and chilling satire, that suggests a course forward for embattled Internet radio operators looking to navigate what could soon be a whole new Webcasting ballgame.

The proposed solution: Get with the payola program!

"Forget those bygone days of yesterday (literally)," the author of Noisebox exhorts the reader, "during which passionate, independent webcasters sifted through the thousands upon thousands of musical releases to select those tracks most deserving of your undivided listening attention."

"We crunched the numbers courtesy the recent rates for Webcasting set by the CRB.  The only way for grassroots internet radio to survive is to no longer be grassroots internet radio."

The site thanks the CRB judges for establishing "in law, the market minimum for payola in internet radio... Each stream to each listener is worth at least as much as the guaranteed royalties generated."

"Sure its illegal, for traditional broadcasters who throw music around the licensed, public airwaves," the site writes. "But the internet is the information highway,... Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. No payola rules need apply.  So if you wanna get some play, you’re gonna have to pay."

Noisebox is good for a laugh on a topic that most likely won't yield much else to laugh about. But like good satire, the proposal is so ludicrous that it almost makes bizarro-sense. Webcasters might argue that their ilk retains the scruples to avoid the payola way out. Noisebox offers a different conclusion:

"Stay tuned. Webcasting just got a whole lot greener."

No surprise that lots of RAIN readers have thoughts on the developments of the last few days...

"A significant net loss to the recording industry..."

I recently began listening to Pandora. I hate commercial radio and haven't listened
to a single minute of it in close to a decade. In only a few days of listening, Pandora introduced me to several artists I like that I had never heard of before. Commercial radio hasn't done that for me since I lived in a college town in the mid-1980s.

I went out a couple of weeks ago and bought 10 albums based on my Pandora listening.

Rather than trying to milk internet radio stations dry or kill them altogether, the
recording industry should recognize them for what they are -- a partner in promoting
artists and a vital contributor to recording industry revenue.

Without internet radio I will find fewer new artists that I like and that will translate to less records purchased on an annual basis. I can't be the only person for whom that is true.

Couple that with the revenue lost from all of the internet radio stations that will
go out of business and it would seem to be a significant net loss for the recording
industry. Wonder if they are bright enough to figure that out?

"Use the power of Congress to develop a workable fee structure..."

All well and good to do the listener petitions but really --- go to the source of
power -- your Congressional  Represenative.

Have the facts in hand, call his local office and schedule a "sit down" meeting. Be reasonable and polite. Explain how this proposed ruling will do the very opposite of diversity that they all profess to support.

Use the power of Congress to develop a long term workable fee structure.

"Perhaps record companies intend to fund their payola..."

Snarky thought for the day: Perhaps the record companies intended to fund their
payola to terrestrial radio stations with the royalties extorted from the Webcasters.

"Internet radio has been a godsend for indie artists!.."

As an independent artist (Willie T & Doctor X), I rely almost entirely on Internet Radio to bring my music to the world. Thanks to webcasters my music has reached listeners all over the planet -- something I never dreamed would be possible.

Commercial radio is largely shut off to musicians like me, who can't afford -- or
refuse to fork over -- huge sums in payola.

Internet Radio has been a godsend for Indie artists!

Would I like to receive royalties for my work? Of course I would. But the exorbitant rates proposed by the RIAA and approved by the CRB will bankrupt the very stations that give life to my music, and which spur CD sales and digital music downloads. I would much rather keep the rates low in order to keep these stations alive.

If the CRB's rates are allowed to stand there are hundreds of thousands of artists like me who will be thrust back into the dark ages where the best we could do is get limited airplay on local college radio stations.

I also believe that terrestrial broadcasters should not be exempt from paying royalties for the use of sound recordings. Why should webcasters have to bear this
burden alone?

"Services... need to have the same raw material cost structures to compete..."

Willing Buyer/Willing Seller cannot be determined in a vacuum with only Internet
webcasters and RIAA as participants. No way there will be willing buyers at rates
much above $0 when the established businesses on the other side of the street get
all their materials for free.

Internet webcasting as a legitimate business model doesn't stand a chance until the persons making these monumental royalty decisions understand that non-interactive services -- whether digital, analog, Internet or terrestrial -- are all vying for the same listeners and need to have the same raw material cost structures to compete.

Either all should pay nothing, or all should pay a reasonable percentage of revenue.

Perhaps webcasters need advocates who can creatively argue business law to
effectively wage this battle.

"Net radio is doing more for the sale of CDs than these people realize..."

Do these same record labels realize that internet radio is for listeners like me,
the major way that I am drawn to purchasing new CDs??

I listen to AccuRadio constantly through my work-week. AccuRadio allows me to click the CD label for the current song to go straight to Amazon where I can buy the CD. If hear a song that I like, I click on it to see more about the album. I hear more than one song that I like on an album and it goes on my wishlist or shopping cart at Amazon.

This is how I buy CDs! No more listening to FM radio and wishing I knew who had done a particular song because I either missed the announcement or they didn't say who it was. This may be just one example, but I bet that internet radio is doing more for the sale of CDs than these people realize.

"Gut the very people it claims to be protecting..."

Have the CRB or RIAA explained how cutting out hundreds or thousands of
small webcasters will serve their clients?

If the CRB establishes a moderate rate and maintains it, isn't there a
greater likelihood that the small and medium webcasters will stay in the
game? How much in royalties does that add up to? I speculate it's in the
millions.

And that's only in regard to royalties. As for exposure...I guarantee that
there aren't ANY terrestrials or satellite moguls who serve the niche
audience that hundreds of webcasters take care of and in so doing the many
performers, writers, arrangers and the rest of the performing pantheon
receive exposure they won't get anywhere else.

What's the real agenda?

An agency, purporting to be doing something that is more 'fair,' is about to gut the very people it claims to be protecting.

The RIAA cannot claim to be aligned with free markets, nor can it claim to
be protecting the artists of the recording and performing industry because
it is about to cut hundreds and thousands of throats.

"The more successful you are, the faster you'll fail..."

In the broadcast industry we pay for broadcast use (ASCAP, BMI), then for internet
use. Add AFTRA's announcer fees/prohibitions to the basic costs of streaming and it
doesn't make sense to do it.

The more successful you are the faster you'll fail. It's a strange business model
that's likely to backfire on content owners hoping to see new technologies using any
kind of licensed content.

"These laws always seem to hurt the independent artists the most..."

"Force all broadcasters to pay an equal and fair share..."

"Drop major label product..."

This is the same game with a different name (year) as had come before. The only
solution now, as then, is for Internet Radio to drop all major label product.

Terrestrial can't break a new band, Satellite is near bankrupt and has to merge to
survive, with only Internet Radio left to expose new artists.

Hit them where it hurts, drop major label product at once.