David Byrne — ex-Talking Head and odd music impressario — has been targetted by the RIAA for streaming a radio station that played too much Missy Elliot (the RIAA's approved blanket license for Internet prohibits playing more than four tracks by an artist in a three-hour period). Byrne write eloquently about the hassle of not being able to share the music he loves with his listeners:
In my case the law forbids streaming "radio" that features more than 4 tracks by any one artist in a three-hour period. My guess is that they may have confused streaming with downloading — in the same way that people often confuse downloading with file sharing. They are afraid that even if it's not downloadable somehow if a fan knows there will be 3 Missy songs at a given time they can prepare their gear and tape them. The assumption being that sale is lost. [I've been informed that the fear is less sensible than that — it is that if you know you can hear a specific artist whenever you want, then the reasoning is you would never buy their records.]
Back in the day I used my boom box to tape things off the radio all the time — that's how I found out about music I didn't know about, and eventually I not only bought those records, but ended up promoting them, too. Which made a fair amount of money for some record labels — but not for me. Not complaining, though.
(Thanks, Rosco!)
