A Day of Silence
Today, many streaming radio stations are observing a day of silence to highlight the impending change in licensing fees that will force many of them off the air. A visitor to Pandora sees a letter from CEO Tim Westergren saying:
I'm sorry to say that today Pandora, along with most Internet radio sites, is going off the air in observance of a Day Of Silence. We are doing this to bring to your attention a disastrous turn of events that threatens the existence of Pandora and all of internet radio. We need your help.
Likewise, a visitor to Radio Paradise will hear only environmental sounds (birds chirping, frogs croaking, .. it is actually quite pleasant).
Some
notable participants in today's event are (according to the SaveNetRadio
website): Pandora, RadioParadise, RadioIo Yahoo!, Live365, Rhapsody,
MTV Online, AccuRadio, KCRW and about 100 others. Notably absent
is Last.fm - and they tell why in their recent blog post: Make some noise.
Most interesting of all is the comment thread on that blog post where
last.fm execs and staffers defend last.fm's position against the
disgruntled.