Pandora - day of silence

[ashughes]

Sad...

Internet Radio is dying!

This is an open letter from the founder of Pandora as the site commits a day of silence:

http://www.pandora.com

[juxtaposed]

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for most listeners located outside of the U.S.

Blah.

That's the first time I've seen laws stop the access of media from outside America while allowing it inside.

[FuturePilot]

Many internet radio stations went silent today
More info (http://www.savenetradio.org/press_room/press_releases/070625-snr_dos.pdf)

[Detonate]

I emailed my rep, and Senators. Sure would hate to lose internet radio, Pandora is one of my favorite sites.

[starcraft.man]

Aye, so sad... I don't listen to much radio but Pandora was my favourite before they blocked out Canada from their service. RIAA is ridiculous for putting such a great industry out of business, its only gonna hurt them.

[stmiller]

US Congress only listen to big corporations and big $$$. Letters from citizens never get past the braced-faced 16 year old intern. :(

[Tundro Walker]

This is always going to be a sore issue until the RIAA finds a way to adapt to the 21st century, where digital media and the internet break the confinements of hard media, like CD's.

There's always going to be folks copying music and sharing it. Personally, I don't mind that, because the more folks that hear the music, the more might be inclined to go see a band in concert. But, for sound studio music (IE: the type you create in a studio that can't be done easily as a "live" performance), where can you profit from? You sell just one CD, and someone will rip it and toss the mp3 on the web, leaving you out all kinds of sales.

I can see their dilemma, and I don't envy the change they're going to have to make. Currently, they've tried to put tangible limitations on an intangible medium (IE: DRM & copy-protection on digital recordings), but those are so easily broken it's laughable. They can't keep treating digital medium like records or CD's. They need to focus on more of an iTunes approach. Or something. All I know is constantly suing folks doesn't exactly win you favor when you're viewed as "the man". If anything, it causes more folks to want to swap music just to **** you off.