Given the recent critical events in Internet radio, we're in the process of completely rejiggering the agenda for our annual RAIN Las Vegas Summit, which will be held all day on Monday, April 16th at the Renaissance Hotel in Las Vegas. More details are coming, but in the meantime, scheduling and location information is here. Please plan on joining us if you can!

From Forbes: "Internet radio is one of the unsung marvels of the tech boom. Free music, streamed directly to your PC, beats conventional radio, which is littered with mediocre content and too many commercials. And it's whole lot cheaper than satellite radio, which, um, costs money. But unless you want to lug your laptop around, Internet radio comes up short when you want to hit the road.

"Now a startup, led by digital-music veteran Dennis Mudd, is betting it can solve that problem. Mudd's company, formerly known as Broadband Instruments, has renamed itself Slacker, and is offering a new Internet radio service and a small, iPod-sized gadget that offers digital radio to-go.

"Slacker's free Web radio service... will feel familiar to anyone who's used Internet radio before. Like offerings from Yahoo! LaunchCast, AccuRadio, Pandora and others, Slacker puts together a playlist for you based on your musical preferences...

"Because of licensing requirements, Slacker limits your control of the music. You can't rewind or record songs. But if you like a band you're listening to, click the 'heart' button to hear more of them in your rotation; if you can't stand a singer, you can skip the song (up to six skips per station, per hour; license requirements) or ban them from the station completely...

"You can make a custom station on-the-fly, based on a single artist or a group of bands... It's all free, provided you're OK with hearing a commercial here and there. A premium subscription service, to be unveiled later, will let you listen ad-free and skip as many songs as you want...

iPod + Internet radio?
"More interesting are Slacker's plans to make the service available on the go. The company says that 'early this summer' it will begin selling the Slacker Portable Radio Player(pictured at right), a small, black plastic gadget with a four-inch color screen. Priced from $150 to $250, depending on capacity, it links up via a satellite connection or a Wi-Fi signal to refresh hours' worth of music. The pitch: Like Apple's iPod, the device lets you carry your digital music with you; like Internet radio, you can get a constant stream of new stuff without paying a penny (or monkeying around with file-sharing networks).

"The device... will also store and play your existing music files... (Protected files from Apple's iTunes store won't work.)..

"Because of a unique system it uses to store and stream songs on the device, Slacker says it won't be affected by the royalty rate hike that could cripple competing Internet radio outlets."

Read Forbes' entire article online here.

...

... While Slacker is a perfectly workman-like Internet radio product, the VCs behind it may be missing the point here: There is going to be no need to create a complete, separate infrastructure (leasing satellite time, branded players, etc.) to deliver Internet radio to mobile consumers, because soon ALL Internet radio properties will be available via the entire SPECTRUM of wireless Internet connectivity (WiFi, cell phone companies' 3G data networks, etc.) on a PLETHORA of devices (cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, MP3 players, etc.). --KH ...

From Digital Music News: "Slacker, a recently-unveiled startup that aims to blend ubiquity with low-maintenance recommendations, officially announced their initiative at SXSW on Wednesday. As previously revealed, the concept combines a web-based and portable recommendation service to offer well-tuned collections to busy, on-the-go users...

"Meanwhile, the startup team revealed content deals with a variety of labels, including Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and hundreds of independents. Content from those sources will help to power the personalized radio services, which allow users to accept or reject songs in a streamed setting.

"

From Radio Online: "A new Bridge Ratings report examines a new mode of listening among media consumers born between 1980 and 1993, also known as 'Generation Y'. With nearly 90% of Gen-Y listening to broadcast radio in 2003, Bridge says new media options including online radio are driving down daily consumption rates.

"According to the research firm's projections, traditional radio's weekly use will drop to less than a composite 40% by 2020 -- that's if the industry does not succeed in developing the Gen-Y audience...

"However, when Bridge asked its sample to rate several media based on ease of use, traditional radio still is king even with the younger generation... Ultimately, the research firm points out, most people would rather take the easiest route to content delivery, which could be one reason why podcasting/netcasting has not seen the growth formerly expected."

Read this entire article online here.

Here's more feedback on the Internet radio royalty crisis...

"Some go for the quick money and lose in the long run..."

I was going to start up my own radio station some time ago but decided to hold off
until a decision was reached in this matter. Thank God I waited. It's obvious that
big business with its lobbyists & power brokers have won again. Time will show that
if indeed these rates are implemented very few will be broadcasting & thus paying
royalities. Then they can review any study they choose & see that royalities are way
down or maybe almost nonexistant.

It dumbfounds me that when given a choice, some will go for the quick money and lose in the long run as opposed to negotiating a plan that benefits both parties equally. Greed has blinded those in power. It'll come back to haunt them. Too bad the little guy has to pay the price of that greed as well.

"Webcasting is an extension of the (music) industry..."

No where in all the discussions and meetings does the RIAA, or for that matter most
entertainment companies, ever look at the fact that webcasting is not a threat but
an extension of the industry. No where have they examined the fact that the
possiblities of making money are very limited. They seem to think that millions of
dollars are being lost in unpaid royalties...when in fact if there is a broadcaster
on the internet who is making one million dollars webcasting nobody knows who that
individual is.

We are in the webcasting field because we feel that yes it is the future and we want to grow with the technology until such a day arises that indeed one can make a living off of the process.

The Internet has brought back creativity and outlets for exposure...outlets at a price the little guy can afford.

"The Internet is a great tool for marketing..."

The reality is like so much of what happens with the RIAA is based on seriously
outdated models of the music industry. The information age has had its share of issues with copyright holders -- not unlike the days when they thought betamax was
going to destroy the video industry, but that turned out to not be true and the same
goes here.

The Internet is the greatest tool for marketing to a broad range of users around the globe, and record labels themselves should be fighting to keep Internet radio alive since it is the only outlet for true undiscovered and diverse ranges and styles of music and entertainment. Terrestrial radio certainly isn't going to support underground or other genres that don't fit the format of the 10 "hits" of the moment.

The sheer lunacy of these decisions by the Copyright Control Board shows how much
they don't understand the current state of the music industry. If Internet radio goes away so will one of the greatest platforms of discovering new music as well as having access to a vast selection of great programming.

Listen up labels: traditional radio may be playing 3-7% of your super artists, but Internet is supporting the other 95%.

"Royalties paid to the PROs will vanish too..."

One side-effect of this rate hike is that if webcasters stop because of the high SoundExchange revenues, then the royalties paid to the PROs (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) will vanish too. It would seem to me that for independent artists, simply allowing Internet radio stations to play their original music free of royalties is an obvious path for them to take.

"Internet radio has been a revelation..."

I can't believe the RIAA can be so short sighted. Internet radio has been a
revelation to me. I've discovered artists on AccuRadio that I would otherwise have never heard of, much less heard their music, and I've bought many CD's from Amazon because of it.

I can't remember the last time I set foot in a record store. I believe everyone, consumers, music fans and artists will suffer if this insane proposal goes through.