Protection Tactics, Pt 731

Radio stations have to pay royalties for netcasts, but not for radio broadcasts. If there's legal reasoning behind this, it's beyond me. Of course, this is a really stupid tactic.

It will only kill webcasts - which are far more effective these days for building a listener base than radio broadcasts are. This is because the radio industry is rife with payola, sells 1/2 hr of commercial time per hour of air time, and is massively concentrated - in short, a pretty difficult and costly place to do business.

But that's the only thing the record labels know, and they'll keep fighting this war of attrition until everyone gives up and goes back to buying vinyl from tiny indie lables. Or maybe that's just me.