you never know

Here’s a piece I did for the news about the most recent threat to Internet radio:

Internet_Radio

The Copyright Royalty Board has decided to raise royalty rates –webcasters will have to pay up to a 300% increase in royalty fees on a per-song basis. The consequences of this could signal the end of independent web-based radio shows and podcasts, as Josh Ward from SaveNetRadio says in the piece, and could bankrupt even larger webcasting stations like Yahoo and Pandora.

Record Industry organization Sound Exchange says they just want artists and labels to get paid fairly for their work. But thousands of bands and artists may not get their chance to be heard or discovered, since the proposed fees would reduce the variety of independent programming out there.

For more information, check out www.savenetradio.org

Here are a few reports I produced for a Pacifica National Special about the United States Social Forum, which grew out the World Social Forum.
Nearly 10,000 people gathered from many social movements in the U.S. and around the world. The Forum workshops and events revolved around several issues: labor rights, the environment, Indigenous rights, Immigration, gender equality, and the war in Iraq. Check out the entire Pacifica broadcast of the U.S. Social Forum here.
USSF_Closing.mp3
USSF_Immigration.mp3
USSF_Be_the_Media.mp3
USSF_Youth_Performers.mp3
USSF_Prisoner Family Project.mp3