Geek in Review: RIAA Wants to Kill Internet Radio. Again.

I had a really upsetting dream (which mercifully ended when I woke up this morning) in which I was being chased by a giant spider. It was one of those "I can't seem to move very quickly to get away from this thing that's chasing me" things, and upon waking, I knew exactly why it invaded my otherwise restful night: I'm working on the rewrite of this writing project (due in one week's time) and in closing some holes, I've opened up a whole bunch more. I told my friend yesterday, "it's like trying to get the babelfish in the Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy interactive fiction game."

I've really enjoyed the challenge and the few rewarding moments that have surprised me on this project have really been fantastic, but I'm at this really unpleasant but inevitable valley in my creative process, where I'm convinced everything I've written is shit, and I should just dump it all in the shredder.

I'm sure some of the writers out there will agree that, when we reach this point, it's actually a good sign that I'm getting close to the point where it all comes together and I just get out of the way and let the ideas and characters tell me where to go.

Ah, but while I'm stuck here, it really sucks, and as a result there isn't a whole lot of blogging from me while I work it all out.

However, I put up a Geek in Review yesterday that I hope everyone will read:

RIAA Wants to Kill Internet Radio. Again.

I'm not a huge fan of monopolies. As a consumer, and as a creator, I want to have as many choices and options as I can for interacting with content and audience.

That just makes sense, right? More choices is better, free market, etc. etc. etc. I mean, can you imagine a world where you go to turn on your radio, and all you can get is a top 40 station? "Now Wil, you're just being silly." You say, "I'll just listen to an indie station on the internet. I'll never have to hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Ashlee Simpson ever again."

Not so fast, Captain Smugs-a-lot. The douchebags at the RIAA (who, I have decided, have realized that they've failed to evolve with their industry and are now determined to destroy it) are working overtime to completely destroy our ability to enjoy online radio, like Radio Paradise, Soma.fm, radioio, and Pandora.

What they essentially want to do is increase the royalty payments that Internet broadcasters pay to SoundExchange (an RIAA organization) to such an outrageously high rate that many of them are forced out of business. The RIAA claim that they are working to "protect their artists." Like every other claim the RIAA makes, this is complete and utter bullshit. They realize that they can't force their outdated Big Hit business model on Longtail consumers any more, so rather than adapt to survive in the current marketplace, they're going to destroy it, and roll radio back to the pre-internet years when they could safely sit in their glass towers and twirl their mustaches while lighting cigars with 100 dollar bills. Uh, while we all listened to Toto and Survivor and liked it.

I've been listening to a ton of Internet radio while I've worked this week, so this particular issue, which I would care about no matter what, really hits close to home for me.

I hope you'll all go read it and share it with your friends. It really is yet another example of the Old Way trying to destroy the New Way, because it doesn't know how to adapt to a changing world. What's frightening is how likely they are to succeed, if we don't fight back and fight back hard.