Due to impending royalty rate hikes for the period 2016-2021, we have been forced to shut down.  We are a minor non-interactive music discovery service/internet radio service, and are being forced to pay the same rates as some of the largest internet streaming services.  They have millions of subscribers who pay $10 per month.  This is not, at the moment, a valid business model for us.  We feature quite a lot of new independent music, as well as lesser known tracks from more established artists. We do this because we want to be a valid destination for people with discriminating taste, and we want to give these artists a place to feature their music, as we all know terrestrial music rarely features new unsigned music.

We are NOT against artists being paid for their creative works, as many of us that work at RTDS are recording artists as well.  We ARE for a fair and balanced system that pays creators but also reflects the realities of the many micro and small broadcasters that are presenting options that are NOT hit based radio.

We will be silent until we can find a way to find funding to pay these increased royalties, or until the system is re-evaluated.

If you want more information on the consequences of removing choice, Live365.com closed its doors this week, as they had thousands of stations that would be affected by these new royalties.  Many of these stations are small broadcasters who feature many types of music NOT featured on traditional radio and will now go silent.  Far few choices to listen to…very sad.

http://rainnews.com/live365-suffers-a-collision-of-misfortune-lays-off-most-employees-and-vacates-office/

Copyright Royalty Board Raises Rates on Internet Broadcasters

We sincerely thank your for your patronage…and perhaps we’ll rise again…someday…

Todd Miller and the entire RTDS air staff