It’s apparent that record companies just “don’t get it”. I realize record sales are down and that the brunt of the money from touring goes to the artist performing, BUT the recent ruling you’ll see below is going to cut their profits back even farther than they think they’re being cut back by Internet music “airplay”.

Being a 25 year veteran of radio, I still remember the days of having to write down every song that is played for a two week stretch, then the list is sent to either BMI or ASCAP to calculate how much money the radio stations pay, then how much the songwriters get for the airplay. That is perfectly fair. One objection to that right now is the smaller market radio stations having to pay for the CD or a service to get them new music. It ain’t free anymore. Unless you’re in a medium or major market, the record companies will tell you that your market doesn’t matter, as far as sales are concerned. So what’s a radio station to do? Threatening to lift every major label off the air and play just Independent artists will only have listeners switching to the bigger stations that do get the freebies. So the smaller stations just buck up and pay twice to entertain their audiences with the music they want to hear.

As far as Internet, file sharing and copying are concerned, the record companies should have seen it coming. I’m hard pressed to believe that these major conglomerates don’t have the know how to see advanced technology on the horizon.

But now, they want to get paid by anybody and everybody that plays the music by their artists, now matter how it’s “broadcast”. Hear it on sound systems in the grocery and department stores? They’re paid for that. Hear it in an elevator? They get paid for that. Hear a band play a cover song from Van Halen or The Beatles? Believe it or not, nightclubs pay them too.

Like so many other major corporations, they are selling a product…yes! But they only answer to shareholders and damn the public.

Now the story:

LAS VEGAS - Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the royalties they must pay to record companies and artists.

A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations, small startup companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, had objected to the new royalties set March 2, saying they would force a drastic cutback in services that are now enjoyed by some 50 million people.

In the latest ruling, the Copyright Royalty Board judges denied all motions for rehearing and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the new royalties will have to be collected.

read the full story at YAHOO!