RIPS Causes Online Music to R.I.P.

For residents of the country of Singapore who enjoy listening to radio stations over their computers, March 25th will be remembered as the day the music died.  The efforts to work out new licensing fees with the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (also known as Rips) were sadly unsuccessful.

For those who follow the world of online music and Internet radio, you’re probably aware that licensing fees have been a major sticking point for the growth of online radio stations.  Like the rest of the burgeoning world of "new media," there isn’t really a standardized way to monetize the Internet in terms of broadcasting music.  When charged the same fees as AM and FM radio stations pay, many of these small websites quickly fold.  After all, it is a different medium and the concept of "times played" is completely different than it is when we’re talking about songs broadcast over the airwaves.  Listeners are generally looking for free Internet radio and often aren’t willing to pay to hear their music any more than they would pay to tune into the radio when driving in their car.

Previously, radio stations in Singapore weren’t required to pay the record companies when a song was played via the Internet for an online broadcast.  However, Rips wanted to charge an annual licensing fee for all stations that were streaming music over the radio.  This led to the stations in Singapore closing the Internet portion of their services.  Hopefully, a fee structure can be worked out so that once again, the world of radio can continue its natural transition to the Internet.