Friday, March 23, 2007

Meridian Underground Music Exchange turns 11

Meridian Underground Music Exchange (THE place for new & used cds, boards, posters, & smoking accessories in East MIssissippi) celebrates their 11th Anniversary Saturday, March 24th. They are gonna have a show (what else?) with some really cool bands. Show begins at 4pm Downtown at the store (22nd Ave. between 8th & 9th Sts.), weather's great, so get out & support your local music scene (& have fun doing it!)! Check out the poster below for who's playing.
Love & Peace, Clarence

Sunday, March 18, 2007

OlioRadio has a new Playlist, same Attitude

No matter what the U.S.Copyright Office does, OlioRadio brings you what you need: New tracks and a new playlist. Got ya some brand new stuff from Sherwood, The Prestige, Scott Walker, and Patti Smith (yayy!!!); not so new stuff from Ray Stevens, Little Milton, and Chris Bell; and cool stuff from all. New sounds in the playlist come from: Andrija Rudic and NuLix - Boho Paisley - Buddug Verona James - BugGiRL - Chris Bell - Colourbox - Delaware - Dylan Hears a Who - Little Milton - Mama Cass Elliot - Marty Robbins - Mercy - Mission of Burma - Patti Smith - QuestRoomProject - Ray Stevens - Ric Flair - Scott Walker - Sherwood - Sorta - Squirt Company - The Fairways - The Go! Team - The Prestige - The Reduced Shakespeare Company - The Ronettes - The Sound - Tommy James and the Shondells - and XiuXiu.

Internet Radio is being attacked. Go to Save the Streams to find out more and see how you can help. And for a history of the Copyright Performance Royalty and what's behind it, go to the March 16th posting on Kurt Hanson's site. Help OlioRadio and thousands of other Internet Radio Webcasters to survive.
Love and Peace, Clarence

Monday, March 12, 2007

On March 2nd, the Copyright Royalty Board (appointed by the U.S.Copyright Office) handed down their decision on U.S.Copyright Royalty Rates for the years 2006-2010 (yep, it's retroactive to Jan.1, 2006). The new rate structure does two things:
1) it raises rates that streaming webcasts (independents webcasters, webcasters using services such as Live365.com - I'm one of them, AOL Radio, Yahoo Radio, etc.) pay to a point that ALL streaming audio providers will have to shut down;
2) it ends the Small Webcasters License Agreement that was negoiated in 2003, which will not only cause services for Independent Webcasters & Public Radio stations to close down, but many Independent Webcasters will owe so much for Jan. 2006 through today that they will be forced to take Personal Bankruptcy.

These Copyright Royalties are said to be for Artists. The fact is, the Major Music Companies own the vast majority of the copyrights for the music they have released. Only a very few Major Label artists own their copyrights (& most of those, like Bowie, Springsteen, etc. have paid a lot of cash to get them). Publishing rights yes, but not copyrights. And this decision does not change songwriter royalties (which all legally-operating U.S. Webcasters pay) one bit.

Even services such as Pandora would be affected. Pandora's royalty bill for 2006 (under the new rates) is estimated to be anywhere from several hundred million to over one Billion U.S.dollars.

The Independent Webcasters affected by this aren't wealthy. They are folks like you & me who love the Music & want to share the great songs & musicianship with everyone. These aren't 'Pirate Stations' either. These are webcasters based in the U.S. doing everything legally & above board. And, if services such as Live365 & LoudCity have to shut down, webcasters & Listeners from over 100 countries who stream through those services will also be silenced.

More on the decision- http://www.live365.com/info/royalties.html

What can you do?

If you live in the United States, contact your House & Senate members & let them know how you feel.

House: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

If you live outside the U.S., go to Save the Streams (http://www.savethestreams.org/) and sign the online petition,
and contact the Copyright Royalty Board (http://www.loc.gov/crb/contact/)

More background on this decision:

Report by the Copyright Royalty Board (115 pages)- http://www.loc.gov/crb/proceedings/2005-1/rates-terms2005-1.pdf
press reports-
Information on the decision-
http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml
Who gets rich- http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml

If you know Anyone (local, state, or federal government officials, local, state, or federal Political Party Officials, College or University Officials, etc.) contact them & let them know that this has to be rolled back. There will be an appeals & negoiation process for the next few months, but NOW is when we as Webcasters, Listeners, Musicians, & Recording Companies must make our voices heard.

Thanks,
Clarence Jones
OlioRadio.net

Saturday, March 10, 2007

happy happy joy joy


mom&dad-late'40's
Originally uploaded by claren44.
Happy 61st Anniversary to my Mom and Dad, and Happy 81st Birthday to my Dad.

Yep Folks, it CAN be done.
Love & Peace, Clarence

Monday, March 5, 2007

U.S.Copyright Royalty Board and Small Webcasters

This is a repost of comments made by Monty, Marketing Manager of Live365.com, after articles published over the weekend about the proposed new Performance Royalty Rates for Webcasters:

-quote-
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:32 am Post subject: New Internet Radio Royalty Rates & Live365

Despite all the arguments made by the Internet radio industry, e.g. Live365’s CEO Mark Lam’s testimony last April at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on digital radio urging the Committee to help create a level competitive playing field for broadcast, cable, satellite and Internet radio (go here for video and written versions of his testimony: http://www.digmedia.org/content/release.cfm?id=25&content=news), the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has reportedly adopted the new per performance royalty rates put forth by SoundExchange.

It was reported that the new per performance royalty rates for the years from 2006 through 2010 would be $0.0008, $0.0011, $0.0014, $0.0018, and $0.0019, respectively, representing an increase over the existing rate ($0.000762) of 5%, 44%, 84%, 136%, and 149%, respectively, and a year-over-year increase of 5%, 38%, 27%, 29%, and 6%, respectively.

This would undoubtedly impose a grave challenge to the development of Internet radio. From the moment the news broke—and even in the months leading up to the CRB's decision, Live365 has been proactively working on resolving any possible negative effects of the potential royalty rates change, on behalf of our broadcasters and listeners and in cooperation with other DiMA (the Digital Media Association) members and the Internet radio industry at large.

In the days and months to come, Live365 expects to take a series of measures to combat the challenges imposed by the new royalty rates. We will keep you posted of the progress. Before the CRB and Live365 make any formal announcements, however, we ask you to please stay calm and refrain from passing any false speculations and premature judgments.

In the meantime, you may want to contact your local Congressmen and Congresswomen. Make your voice heard by the lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
_________________
Monty
Marketing Manager, Live365
-/quote-

These rates would apply to ALL recordings played, not just Major Label Artists. This increase of rates would close down all but a few individually-wealthy Webcasters & the AOLs & Yahoo!s. Webcasting is the last chance for regular folks (from all over the world) to provide what all the Clear Channels & other mega-media companies will not give you: individual voices, both in choice of music & the creators of that music. If you live in the United States, contact your House & Senate members & let them know how you feel.

Congress: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

More background on this decision


http://www.digmedia.org/docs/Press%20Release%2010-31-05.pdf
http://www.digmedia.org/docs/CRB%20Arbitration%20FAQ.pdf
http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml
Broadcastlawblog http://www.savenetradio.org/archive.htm

Broadcasters Go Here and join the cause
http://webcastersunite.net

Thx to my Sister-in-Arms Red, Monty & all the hard-workin' folks at Live365.com, you Beautiful Listeners, & all the Legally Webcasting Individuals, putting our hearts into the Music we love. We shall fight the Good Fight...and Win!!
Love & Peace, Clarence


Sunday, March 4, 2007



More soon...
Love & Peace, Clarence

Fresh Hot Music at OlioRadio!

OlioRadio has a brand new playlist with some brand new songs spinnin' 'round. OlioRadio, as always, streams a dozen decades of cool music to your ears 24/7 through Live365.com.

So who's been added to the OlioRadio sounds this time? These wonderful Artistes: 46bliss - Alberto Mendes - Arnold Johnson and his Orchestra,v.Scrappy Lambert - Bikeride (from the soon-to-be-released cd) - Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band - Camille Howard - Contra - Dokaka - Doris Day - Dr.John - Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Eddie Dean - Eddie South - Frankie Ford w/Huey Smith and the Clowns - Freshel - Gimbo - Harry Spencer - Henry Burr, Billy Murray and the Peerless Quartet - Jimmie Dale Gilmore - J. Harold Murray and the Victor Light Opera Company - John Barrymore - John Cunningham - John Raitt (Bonnie's Dad) - Johnny Thunders - Kay Starr - Machito and His Afro-Cubans - Madeline Kahn - Marion Harris and Dorothy Jordan - Mark Wirtz - Mary Galdos - Mary Martin and Kathy Nolan - Miguelito - Mississippi Sheiks - Mrs. Ben Scott and Myrtle B. Wilkinson - Mustafio - My Chemical Romance - Natalie Walker - Nat M. Willis with Orchestra - Nick Lucas - Nina Gordon - Pat Ford - Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra w/George Gershwin - R.H. Burnside and the Chorus Girls of "Hip Hip Hooray" - Smokey Robinson - Sousa's Band - Stereo Total - The Beatles - The Delta Rhythm Boys - The Dirtbombs - The Hives - The Inversions - The Raconteurs - The Romantics - The Rounders - The Staple Singers - The Thermals - The White Stripes - and ZZ Top.

Don't forget...check by the OlioRadio website for updates, listening assistance, the OlioRadio Top25, and links to our feeds. We got ya covered for great sounds at OlioRadio!
Love and Peace, Clarence