In the continuing saga of the music industry not being able to construct a business model that capitalizes on the new technology and instead waging war on it, we are now about to lose online radio.

I have an online radio broadcast and it has been a rough road. The music industry does not want to treat online radio like on-air radio. A long time ago there was a truce between the industry and radio. A common sense understanding that radio promotes the music the industry sells and thus counteracts the fees the industry wanted to impose for them playing the music. They still pay fees however.

Now they are going to start dramatically escalating the fees to online radio only. This will essentially mean that there will be no more variety. All but the very biggest online radio companies, who are in cahoots with the music folks, will be able to take the huge financial hit. Your local college radio station will go offline. The really cool one in New York you listen too will go away. The local WDVX, which has a huge online following and is voted best Bluegrass station year after year, will only be available here in the hills of East Tennessee. Live 365 will be gone or start charging more fees. All that variety will cease and we’ll hear Fergie and Justin on constant rotation instead.

Despite the fact that online radio is tied into online sales directly and I can click the currently playing selection and buy it, thus making a direct link between sales/promotion and listening, they want to shut it down. They can’t fathom the great good it does for them. Amazon reports that the biggest CD sales are for the extremes of their catalog. The older, more obscure titles, when combined, out sell everything else by miles. Let the entire catalog of music be played and heard and bought and the industry will make far more money.

They just don’t see it our way and want to ram their top 3 artists down our throats further.

You can help stop it by signing this petition online. Do it now!