I Have Not Given Into the Dark Side!

The banner above this post, or rather right below the title, is NOT an ad! I am not making any money from it!

It's a banner, and it's cool, and the color happens to work with both blogs (totally accidental, I swear) and it happens to be about an issue that I care about: Internet Radio.

The FCC is considering substantially raising radio fees for internet radio companies, meaning that most of the stations I listen to and enjoy--FineTune, Pandora, Last.fm--will be out of business; they just don't make enough money (with no advertisements, no backing from huge evil corporations like Clear Channel, and no payola to ensure that Chris Brown's latest Crapola gets radio play) to pay a huge radio license fee and still pay for their server upkeep.

One of the amazing things about the internet is its incredible cheapness; for a couple of bucks and maybe 200 bucks in recording equipment, ANYONE can put out a CD, start up a radio station, start a cooking show, or publish a book. It's wonderful, because there are some really talented people out there who don't have the time (after their 9-5 jobs) or the connections (because not everyone lives in NYLA) or even the inclination (because a lot of mass-media companies really suck) to go the mainstream route of getting a manager, publicist, or agent, and then having the agent shop their book around, and then signing most of their creative rights away, etc, etc. So they publish, or record, on their own instead. The internet makes that possible, and while I don't get to read or watch Google Video much at work, I DO get to listen to Internet Radio.

Don't take that away from this Chemical Engineer! Sign the petition--and contact your representative today!