Totally Me» clear channel

Internet Radio – What Now, Bitch?

Jim — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:55:45 +0000

There was a deal reached this week between the record companies and SoundExchange over music webcasts. It was presented by some as a win for webcasts even though Pandora’s own blog notes that the royalty rates are higher than for any other form of radio. Others such as Techdirt call it a death sentence for Internet radio. One thing I found interesting was that the opinions varied almost entirely depending on whether it was an Old Media or New Media source. I think they’re both right.

What it means is that services like Pandora, Last.fm and Slacker Radio get a short term reprieve. They’ll be able to suck up the fees and stay in business for a while but I think the royalty rates are too high to be sustainable long term. On the other hand, it will almost immediately kill off any smaller webcasters that are interested in staying legal.

What it means long term is that the recording industry has killed another legitimate source of revenue and if there is no free web radio to listen to people will download and listen to stolen music for which there is no income associated. They should have embraced web radio and given them royalty rates at least comparable to conventional radio – increasing the number of people listening to paid music. Instead they continued their death dance with Clear Channel.

Here’s a clue for you, RIAA. Nobody likes their corporate, sounds the fucking same everywhere, committee programmed bullshit. Some people will tolerate it but the number who will is becoming increasingly few. They are doomed and so are you. But frankly I think that’s a good thing for both musicians and listeners.

The Reaper’s coming for you too radio

Jim — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:41:34 +0000

Back in January, I posted about the death of old media and posited that the order of their death would be newspapers, tv, then radio because there wasn’t a mobile equivalent to radio for your car. In 4 months, technology has proven me wrong. In the last week or so a client has appeared for Pandora and Slacker for my Blackberry. After using both for a little while, I can safely say that radio is doomed too. If you’re familiar with my opinion of Clear Channel and the other fucktards in charge of radio these days then you’ll already know that the day can’t come fast enough as far as I’m concerned.

Why the hell would you listen to stuff programmed by somebody else when you can set up exactly the stuff you want to listen to? Especially when it recommends things based on your likes. There you go.

Is that the death-knell I hear?

Jim — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:12:58 +0000

Back in January I posted about the death of old media. Later that day, it was announced that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was up for sale and if it hadn’t been sold in 60 days it would be shut down or go web only. Today is the last day that they’ll be publishing a dead tree bit newspaper. In February, the Rocky Mountain News ceased operations altogether.

Remember you heard it here first…. newspapers, then TV, then radio. Sadly, this means that the ass-ponies at Clear Channel will be the last in the unemployment line. Here, watch this….

The Death of Old Media Has Not Been Greatly Exaggerated

Jim — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:17:02 +0000

Back in July (yeah, again, fuck you — I just recently discovered that Viigo on my Blackberry had gone Microsoft and was feeding me articles for Techcrunch & Mashable from July), Mark Hopkins wrote an article called Old Media Deathrace 5000 in which he discusses which of the Old Media variants will die first.

His spin is that radio will go first. He talks about another article by Duncan Riley in which Riley says that TV will be the first to go. Just because I’m an arrogant prick I’m going to throw my opinion in and say, with qualifications, that I think they’re both wrong.

I think newspapers will be the first to go. My qualification to that is it assumes that newspapers aren’t already dead and just haven’t recognized it yet. Furthermore, here’s the order I think they’ll go in: Newspapers, TV, Radio.

Traditional newspapers are, for all practical purposes, are already dead. I mean really does anybody know anyone under 60 that stills reads a newspaper on a regular basis? I get all my traditional news online. Now it’s possible that some of you may consider that Old Media in a new dress. But I don’t — so there. I rest my case.

[In a stunning display of serendipity, Michael Hirschorn agrees with me in his article in the January/February issue of The Atlantic]

[And as if to further indicate my genius-osity, today it was announced that the Seattle P-I was put up for sale and if it hasn't sold in 60 days it will go web only or be shut down entirely]

Next to go will be traditional TV. This has already started in several significant ways: TIVO/DVR, Hulu, and other on-demand types of video delivery.

Last to go, IMHO, will be radio and here’s why — there isn’t any equivalent service available for use in the car that’s free. Yes, there’s SiriusXM. I have it because Triangle radio sucks for air (but that’s a post for a different day) but alot of people won’t pay for radio. There’s Pandora and it’s associates but there’s no current way to easily use it in the car. There are ipods but that’s not a passive activity. If you’re driving in your car and want to listen to some tunes without actively programming your own deal you’re stuck with Clear Channel minions or paying for satellite service.

That said I can’t wait for traditional radio to crash and burn because I think Clear Channel and the major record labels are largely responsible for the sucking that is modern radio.

And that’s the name of that tune.