Since the end of February, I have been wondering why I can no longer get Internet streaming of SAFRA’s 88.3JIA FM. I realised that it isn’t a network / technical issue only after someone on Plurk said something about the Internet streaming by Mediacorp radio stations were also suspended as a result of pending legislation. But no matter how hard I looked I remained clueless about this legislation. Finally, here’s something on the mass media that tells the general public what is going on.
Is it RIP for Singapore internet radio?
Channel NewsAsia – Wednesday, March 11SINGAPORE: She lives in China, yet it’s a family of familiar voices from Singapore that have kept Jennifer Seah informed and entertained.
For the past two-and-a-half years, the Singapore housewife, whose husband works in Shanghai, has been tuning into MediaCorp’s Internet radio streaming service which has been online since 2000.
“It’s wonderful to be able to tune in to familiar voices from home when you are abroad,” she told Today. So she was very disappointed when, earlier this month, most of the Internet radio streamed out of Singapore suddenly went offline.
The reason: It is going to cost broadcasters thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars each year in licence fees depending on the number of stations they operate.
After an amendment to the Copyright Act in December, broadcasters here have been locked in talks with the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (RIPS).
RIPS is the collective licensing body of 13 record companies that issue licences to broadcast music. The new fees come at a time when the global economy is in turmoil and advertising, the lifeline of media companies, has been badly impacted.
A MediaCorp spokesperson explained to Today that, previously, radio stations were exempted from paying record companies when the songs played over the Internet were part of a radio simulcast, but now this exception only applies to broadcasts over the airwaves.
“The service will be resumed if we can come to an agreement with RIPS,” said the MediaCorp spokesperson. “We have received feedback from Singaporeans tuning in from overseas as well. The public have been concerned and requested to know the reasons behind the cessation.”
So far, MediaCorp’s 18 radio stations as well as Safra Radio’s two stations – Power98 and 88.3JIA FM – have stopped their Internet radio streaming service.
Sources told Today that SPH UnionWorks, which operates Radio 91.3 and Radio 100.3, is still in talks with RIPS and has a few more days to reach an agreement on the new licence fees. Mr Jamie Meldrum, 39, programme director for Radio 91.3 declined to comment, citing the fact that negotiations were still ongoing.
In the United States, the debate over royalty fees for online radio streaming has raged for years with commentators lamenting that the fees will one day kill Internet radio. A day Mrs Seah hopes she will not witness. “I hope the streaming service will come back soon and be even better,” she said. – TODAY
Ahh… record companies again. It has always been in my opinion that these record companies are nothing more than greedy little blood suckers. It is also my considered opinion that with artistes living an extravagant lifestyle, there is no reason why the consumer should continue to be fleeced to pay them. They can call it by some grand name, like protecting intellectual property or encouraging creativity or whatever, but I simply won’t buy it.
In fact, why are we paying these performers again and again for a one-off performance? For their talent?
Here’s some facts you might not already know. It is no longer like the past where artistes must do it over and over again, and only the best recording is replicated onto the media to be sold. With modern technology today, the artiste can make 100 recordings of the same song, and a technician can pick the best parts out of them to create the perfect digital recording, or the artiste can just repeat the part necessary and the same technician will replace it on the digital recording to make it more perfect. And this is even more true for music videos.
And it is not as if all that many technicians are also going to be paid the millions and enjoying the extravagant lifestyle, right? Not to mention the technology providing these capabilities will simply be a one-off investment and after a few recordings the ROI [Returns On Investment] will be achieved.
If you don’t believe me that these artistes aren’t all they are cracked up to be, consider the many occasions where artistes are caught lip-syncing on stage. How about the many artistes caught breathless and panting, and that’s not even in a concert but some times just one-off public performances?
Oh… if you are wondering how all these had to do with the licensing, I am simply pointing out the one thing I cannot agree with – i.e. these people are paid for their ‘talent’. In short, I am asking, what talent is there when these people at times failed to rise to the occasion or sing much worse than the usual karaoke pub regular? Consider why should someone who isn’t any more infallible than you and I be paid millions to enjoy a lifestyle you can only dream about!
Did I also mention, that there are also some performers languishing and complaining how they are ripped off? I mean, if all these licensing stuff is going to protect intellectual property and encourage creativity why do we always just see a few individuals dominating the scene for long periods of time and not relinquishing their position on top? Clearly it’s more like the money is taken to make a concerted effort to keep them up there to create the impression of rarity, isn’t it?
Really, I think radio stations should just go back to short-wave (SW) broadcasting, so people overseas can pick up their transmissions. And these blasted record companies can suck vacuum, or their little fat thumbs.
Cartoons:
I am also suffering from the RIP of the radio stn over internet. My favourite is Class 95 and Gold 90.5.
As in my office, the signal for the radio is very weak, I can only enjoy the radio programme vide internet.
But this record company is sometime myopic. Normally when I find certain songs aired, I would check on the monitor for the title and artiste for that song, and later would look for the album on CD. So no song on internet, I may not exposed to the new songs. So do they make more? not so from me.