Is this what it will come down to, after the 7/15 CRB Royalty rates kick in-totally unsigned artists? Apparently the new rates are forcing even emerging artists down a path away from the new rates: Two leading digital music providers, Trakheadz (trakheadz.com) and SMtv Music (smtvmusic.com), have agreed to offer royalty-free music to over 1,000 college and high school radio stations via the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Systems' new IBS Student Radio Network, operated by Backbone.
The agreement will offer broad exposure to the emerging artists and their music, and will allow the IBS Student Radio Network to offer its listenership fresh, alternative music content from many of tomorrow's hottest indie bands and performers.
This development follows the recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which significantly increased royalty fees that Internet radio stations must pay to major record labels (RIAA) for each song aired, and it eliminates the differences in rates between Internet and terrestrial radio stations for these artists' music.
Said Samantha Murphy, founder, host and producer of SMtv podcast series: "SMtv has been an incredible promotional opportunity for myself and the artists I've featured for the last two and a half years. By partnering with the IBS Student Radio Network, we'll create another valuable distribution channel for the artists featured on SMtv. The proposed CRB rate increase threatens to remove an entire online audience from our reach. In light of this, we must act accordingly to not only protect this vital promotional resource, but to also send a message of web radio's importance to the CRB and the RIAA. As emerging artists, our very careers depend upon it."
