Re: Rumors re: Internet streaming

[Mark Laurence <mlaurence@mindspring.com>]

At 8:49 PM -0400 4/10/01, Lance Venta wrote:

>The radio industry knows that there will be a lot of money to be made in
>Internet radio. AFTRA, the RIAA, and Major League Baseball are all trying to
>ensure they get their share of the pie. Hopefully, the radio industry has
>found something to unite together on in order to get this resolved one way
>or another.

I don't think there's a lot of money to be made here.  Few people 
will pay for distant music stations when they can get local stations 
and a ton of Internet music for free.  Even though some sources of 
Internet music are drying up, but thousands will remain.  Take a look 
at Live365 and see just one assortment.  As for non-music stations, I 
think the market model is much the same as for 50KW AM radio stations 
and their appeal beyond their local cities...not much.

These attempts by industry associations and unions to fatten their 
paychecks will result in fewer choices for Internet listening, but it 
won't make anybody rich.  There may be a small amount of cash flow to 
be created by the Major League Baseball service and perhaps a few 
news stations, but few people are paying a big price for content.

Mark Laurence
mlaurence@mindspring.com