Radio Free Peterborough listener Justin wrote us this message via our feedback page:

"I just read a blog article here
(http://sarabannerman.blogspot.com/2007/04/tariff-22-opening-remarks.html)
about the possible comming rise in royalties for internet broadcasters. I'm wondering if Radio Free Peterborough pays any royalties currently.

Are you legally obliged to ? If Radio Free Peterborough is ever forced to
start paying royalties, one way around that might be to have submiters of
music agree to license their content under a Creative Commons license, but
of course that introduces other issues. Regardless, I think it would be
good if you guys put something up on your website about this issue. I
would love to get some feedback on your feelings on this."

The short answer is, yes - royalties are paid to Socan for RFP broadcasts under Trent Radio's Socan fee.

My feelings are below. Of course, these are only my feelings and don't represent those of anyone but me.

Socan seems to lack an understanding of the Internet. I see this move as a desperate grasp for cash by an imploding commercial music industry. I think it's silly to charge Internet stations who make no income a yearly fee for the privilege of promoting these commercial artists for free, and I expect that if the CRTC is foolish enough to believe their crocodile tears about their losses to the evil Internet (aww - no one wants to pay $22.50 for something they know costs $0.70 to manufacture? boo freakin' hoo) you'll see a massive rise in "real" independent media. If people have to pay $60 a year to stream commercial, copyrighted materials I expect you'll see more and more and more people just putting up small to medium-sized Intenet radio projects online that contain non-commercial materials.

For instance, I can see absolutely NO legal argument of any kind justifying any fees at all to Socan if I made and recorded all the music myself with my friends and we all agree NOT to register with Socan, NOT to sell the music and to release it into the public domain or license it with one of the open content licenses like Creative Commons as Justin suggested.

In my opinion, Socan is an organization whose sole reason for existing is not, as they would like to tell us, the protection of the interests of musicians. At least not anyone who isn't a record company property, so therefore, they look out for the interests of the companies who "own" the music. In fact, the sole reason Socan exists is to squeeze as much money out of music as possible, and feed it back to a few large corporations who "own" most of the commercially available mainstream format music in North America.

That said, (and remember folks - that's just my individual opinion as a private citizen) Radio Free Peterborough's online broadcasts and FM broadcasting time on Trent Radio 92.7 FM (plug plug) in Peterborough have already covered by ongoing Socan payments made by Trent Radio.

Also, with our official Radio Free Peterborough Guide to Starting an Internet Radio Station, anyone who can send email and read documentation can be a Radio Station. This document is regularly downloaded by folks from all over the world, and we often get questions from folks who need a little extra help, which we try to answer as best we can (for free, of course).

More and more individuals and organizations of modest means are cluing in to the fact that they no longer have to approach media as dissatisfied consumers: they can (and should) become the media. Interest in DIY media is large and growing as more and more people realize their computer on their desk can do so much more than just passively consume commercially-provided media.

The harder the commercial side pushes to control and own everything, the harder the "indie" side will push back with resources that the record companies just dont have: people power. And this time, its backed up by a massive throbbing network of globally-interconnected, like-minded individuals working as a self-organizing team. That power is real, and growing daily as consumer technologies and home computers grow ever-more powerful and easy to use.

If Socan starts pushing, I'd really love the opportunity to have them explain to me why I should give them anything to use my own privately paid-for computer on my own privately paid-for internet connection to freely broadcast music without commercials - the vast majority of which I have personal permission to play royalty free forever.

Those that I do not have direct permission from "in person" either verbally or in writing are tracks which were merged into our catalogue frome the catalogue of the lovely folks at Trent Radio. However, almost none of that material is commercial in nature.

For the material that is commercial and/or registered with Socan, I would have absolutely no hesitation in simply deleting any material from the catalogue which Socan is claiming we're supposed to pay for until the artist themselves tells Socan to jump in the lake.

The wealth of music in Peterborough is so great that I don't think anyone would miss them for long, and it would just mean more airtime for the material that is truly independent. That's just fine by me.

Hey you musicians - take the 5 minutes out of your busy schedule to call Socan and tell them how you feel about this issue.

For your convenience, here is the contact info for Socan offices across Canada. Reach out and touch someone:

If you're a member, give us a call at 1-866-307-6226.

If you're a customer, phone us at 1-866-944-6223. We're here to help.

All others, call 1-866-307-6226.

41 Valleybrook Drive
Toronto, ON M3B 2S6
Phone: (416) 445-8700
Toll-free: 1-800-55 SOCAN (that's 1-800-557-6226)
Fax: (416) 445-7108

600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Ste. 500
Montréal QC H3A 3J2
Phone: (514) 844-8377
Toll-free: 1-800-79 SOCAN (that's 1-800-797-6226)
Fax: (514) 849-8446

1201 West Pender Street, Ste. 400
Vancouver, BC V6E 2V2
Phone: (604) 669-5569
Toll-free: 1-800-93 SOCAN (that's 1-800-937-6226)
Fax: (604) 688-1142

1045 Weber Centre, 5555 Calgary Trail
Edmonton, AB T6H 5P9
Phone: (780) 439-9049
Toll-free: 1-800-51 SOCAN (that's 1-800-517-6226)
Fax: (780) 432-1555

45 Alderney Drive, Ste. 802, Queen Square
Dartmouth, NS B2Y 2N6
Phone: (902) 464-7000
Toll-free: 1-800-70 SOCAN (that's 1-800-707-6226)
Fax: (902) 464-9696