Change is coming to how we get the radio we listen too. Radio listeners will go from having 10 choices on their radios to thousands. Good times, good times.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

4gauge is back

It has been a really long time since 4gauge.com went down, but finally, tonight it is back online, and ready to start taking care of all you hard working bands out there.



So much has changed since I wrote here last. On the plus side, it looks like there is going to be a lot more free music on line, with heavyweights like Sony and BMG both making rumblings that they want to move in that direction.



Some very very bad news as well. It looks like The RIAA is about to put all of the independent radio stations out of business by hiking up the licensing fees that these of little stations pay per song to each user. They are aready were beyond reasonable from a deal struck back in 2002, but this new fee structure leaves it far, far behind.



The RIAA can only have pushed for these fees for one reason. Small, free, independent radio took the power out of their hands, and gave it back to normal people like you and me. With a strong Internet radio community, we finally had choice, and that is the last thing that the RIAA wants us to have. They want to jam the same 20 fluff songs down our ears and keep control of what we buy at the CD store.



Sadly, they have likely succeeded. Great stations like RadioParadise.com and Soma.FM are the likely casualties. That, or they'll have to move to countries like Canada who are not in bed with the Corporate music industry's muscle.



That's a bit of a rant, but its worth it, this is an important issue, especially for up and coming bands who need a wide variety of venues to play their stuff. Fortunatly, more and more sites like 4gauge are springing up every day, and 4gauge.com is back online.



Hurray!





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