As we’ve seen, RIAA has been pushing for Internet Radio DRM, limitations to the Fair Use Act, and apparently elimination of Internet radio. This may seem counter-productive. Doesn’t the Recording Industry Association of America want to promote its recording artists? And isn’t radio a traditional way of doing that? And doesn’t Internet radio provide even wider reach of marketing for RIAA’s artists’ products?

Well, not really:

The answer is sales. The RIAA isn’t pushing for every artist, it’s pushing a few select products. One star selling a million records is worth a lot more than one hundred stars selling ten thousand records each, even if the end numbers seem to tally up the same.

— Can you hear me now? by Brett Thomas, bit-tech.net, Published: 21st April 2007

In other words, apparently RIAA is pushing the fat head and doesn’t care about the long tail; much less about participation. Continue reading →