This is the letter that I sent to my Senators and Congressman.
Please send some communication to your senators. Most politicians will respond to voter pressure and if ALL the users of All the stations started "popping off an email"... that would be a significant voice.
Feel free to copy, (correct
) or use any part of my letter.
PeterG
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Congressman Tierney,
I am writing to express my concern about the U.S. Copyright Royalty Boards decision to impose new royalty rates on the Internet Radio which will, effectively, bankrupt and shut down most small stations.
I fear that without congressional intervention, independent broadcasting will be muted by the 'corporate broadcasting giants'.
I listen to a station that plays progressive rock. This genre gets NO airplay on commercial stations. Many people who do not want to hear Britney Spears or the latest boy-band (or RAP, heaven help us) have nowhere to turn in this age of corporate mega-mergers and the dumbing down of music for a #1 Pop Hit. Listeners who have different tastes... like banjo music or new age music, accordion, Irish or anything out of the commercial definition of popular will be out of luck.
I think that these broadcast mega-companies want to control all media and are looking at this as a way to put small broadcasters out of business. I also think that this current administration has been TOO friendly to big-business and does not care about the 'common' citizen.
Please raise this issue amongst your other congressmen as there are a significant number of Americans (and world listeners, for that matter) that depend on Internet radio. Is this the image we want to project globally?
The station I listen to has already started discussions of which country to move the servers to. (after all the Internet is global and we will be able to hear it no matter where the server is) This should not have to happen.
Please help keep the diversity of Internet radio alive.
Thank-you
Peter