Folks:
I love having my own radio station. How many people here can say, with great pride, that they have their own radio station? How many of those people can say they can do anything and everything they ever wanted? Until December, I was that person. By Januaray, that was gone.
There are no FCC regulations when broadcasting on-line, but the rules for Internet Radio Broadcasting are a million times worst.
Your local radio station has the right and privlage of doing things like play full albums at once, play 4 songs by one artist during a "Rock block", and even take requests immediatly after you make them. They may not have the freedom they should to say what they want, but they can do anything and everything else they want.
Internet broadcasters, such as myself, can not. We have the freedom to say anything we want (on a whole), but we do not have the freedom to play what we want, when we want.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 114, who's main backers and lobbyists were the Recording Industry Assosiation of America (The RIAA), bans everything I just mentioned. In any three-hour period, I can not play more than three songs (and not more than two songs in a row) from the same recording, nor can I intentionally program more than four songs (and not more than three songs in a row) from the same recording artist or anthology/box set.
The full law can be read here: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/hr2281.pdf
That rule, more than anything else, stops what should otherwise be a free-exercise of my right as a broadcaster to play what I want, when I want. This same rule, this same part of the law, is NOT enforced on traditonal radio stations, and is simply a joke! What is the overall impact? Something like Mandatory Metallica, where they play 3 songs by one artist in a row, would be banned on Internet Radio.
I, by and large, ignored not only this rule, but every single one that limit what I could do or say. Why? Because, first and formost, I spent MY money to do what I wanted with MY radio station, and I wasn't going to allow ANYONE to change that. But also because these rules were never enforced when I started my station, something I enjoyed exploting.
Now, the hammer has come down, and hard; Any station using Live 365, the company I broadcast through, is no longer allowed to accept new listeners once the rule has been broken.
This means if I play, say, Anthrax 5 times in 3 hours by accident, no one else may tune in. This. Is. BULLSHIT! It also means that I can not legally perform an all-one-artist show like I have in the past for Anthrax or any other artist.
Who is responsable for this? This is the United States Government I have to deal with and federal copyright law, NOT Live 365. I am encouraging you to write your local legislators and tell them you want this stupid, silly law abolished! It is not right to limit the rights of broadcasters to play what they want, when they want, espeically when not only are they paying to broadcast, but when the original copyright holders are getting royalties for it. That's right, artists are paid royalties with my own money when I play them on the air.
So, if any musicans out there who are on labels read this, I sincerly hope you take part in writing them, too.
With all that said, I am planning a protest. A web site will be developed and a campaign launched to bring rights to Internet broadcasters such as myself. We should have the right to do as we see fit, and simply let listeners decide for themselves weither or not to listen.
I thank each and everyone of you for your time to read this. If you would like to help organize this, please e-mail me at luvataciousskull@yahoo.com. I am working on everything as we speak.
-Larry West
Mark Skull Pirate Radio
I love having my own radio station. How many people here can say, with great pride, that they have their own radio station? How many of those people can say they can do anything and everything they ever wanted? Until December, I was that person. By Januaray, that was gone.
There are no FCC regulations when broadcasting on-line, but the rules for Internet Radio Broadcasting are a million times worst.
Your local radio station has the right and privlage of doing things like play full albums at once, play 4 songs by one artist during a "Rock block", and even take requests immediatly after you make them. They may not have the freedom they should to say what they want, but they can do anything and everything else they want.
Internet broadcasters, such as myself, can not. We have the freedom to say anything we want (on a whole), but we do not have the freedom to play what we want, when we want.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 114, who's main backers and lobbyists were the Recording Industry Assosiation of America (The RIAA), bans everything I just mentioned. In any three-hour period, I can not play more than three songs (and not more than two songs in a row) from the same recording, nor can I intentionally program more than four songs (and not more than three songs in a row) from the same recording artist or anthology/box set.
The full law can be read here: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/hr2281.pdf
That rule, more than anything else, stops what should otherwise be a free-exercise of my right as a broadcaster to play what I want, when I want. This same rule, this same part of the law, is NOT enforced on traditonal radio stations, and is simply a joke! What is the overall impact? Something like Mandatory Metallica, where they play 3 songs by one artist in a row, would be banned on Internet Radio.
I, by and large, ignored not only this rule, but every single one that limit what I could do or say. Why? Because, first and formost, I spent MY money to do what I wanted with MY radio station, and I wasn't going to allow ANYONE to change that. But also because these rules were never enforced when I started my station, something I enjoyed exploting.
Now, the hammer has come down, and hard; Any station using Live 365, the company I broadcast through, is no longer allowed to accept new listeners once the rule has been broken.
This means if I play, say, Anthrax 5 times in 3 hours by accident, no one else may tune in. This. Is. BULLSHIT! It also means that I can not legally perform an all-one-artist show like I have in the past for Anthrax or any other artist.
Who is responsable for this? This is the United States Government I have to deal with and federal copyright law, NOT Live 365. I am encouraging you to write your local legislators and tell them you want this stupid, silly law abolished! It is not right to limit the rights of broadcasters to play what they want, when they want, espeically when not only are they paying to broadcast, but when the original copyright holders are getting royalties for it. That's right, artists are paid royalties with my own money when I play them on the air.
So, if any musicans out there who are on labels read this, I sincerly hope you take part in writing them, too.
With all that said, I am planning a protest. A web site will be developed and a campaign launched to bring rights to Internet broadcasters such as myself. We should have the right to do as we see fit, and simply let listeners decide for themselves weither or not to listen.
I thank each and everyone of you for your time to read this. If you would like to help organize this, please e-mail me at luvataciousskull@yahoo.com. I am working on everything as we speak.
-Larry West
Mark Skull Pirate Radio
