The RIAA Is Not Wearing any Clothes
There has been a lot of talk on podcasts about non-RIAA music and keeping the music on the shows ‘podsafe’. Everyone seems to be afraid the music industry is going to sue their asses out of podcasting.
As you may or may not know, I do a podcast called ‘The Rock and Roll Geek Show. I play music that I love. Most of the music on the show is not from major label artists. Some of it is, but very little. Almost none of the music is really ‘podsafe’; i.e, I don’t have explicit permission from the artists to play the music. (although, I am sure most of the groups I play would appreciate the exposure) It is just too much work to go out and get permission from bands that may have broken up or live on the other side of the world. I know it can be done but it is more work than I really want to do. I have tried going to sites like Garageband.com to find music but frankly, I am having a hard time finding much quality there.
We are in the infancy of a great new medium that I think will someday be as big as radio and it is a really special time. The RIAA had a great thing going when Napster started out and they totally blew the biggest marketing opportunity they ever had by shutting them down. If they try to do that to podcasters who are just playing music they love then they are going to shoot themselves in the foot once again. That being said, they probably will.
I also know for a fact that people have gone out and purchased music from bands that I have played on my show. I know of one guy who went out and bought the whole catalog from ’70s band STARZ after hearing me play their music.
A fellow podcaster friend of mine recently had a long conversation with someone from a major label and they told him that they are keeping a close eye on this podcasting trend. What I gathered from the conversation was that if and when we start making any money at this then they are going to be coming at us with their hands out expecting a piece of the pie. Never mind the fact that basically, my show and a lot of others like it, are basically free advertisement for their product.
Here is what I plan to do. First of all, I plan on getting an ASCAP license when I can afford it , but in the meantime, I will keep doing what I have been doing and not worry too much about it ( I have a hard enough time trying to put on an entertaining show). If I get contacted by any labels telling me not to play their band’s music, I certainly will stop playing it. I may stop listening to these groups as well. I may even ask my listeners to no longer support these artists.
The RIAA and the MPAA have been on our asses for long enough and we really don’t have to stand by and take it. They need us a hell of a lot more than we need them. So let’s not worry too much about podsafe music. Let’s just rock!
-This is just my 2 cents.
MIchael Butler
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