Date:         Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:11:15 -0700
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Dismuke <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Internet Radio Status Update
Comments: To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
In-Reply-To:  <01b901c7c8a0$2493d860$0200a8c0@steve3000>
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--- Steve Abrams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> 
> Steve Abrams (socialist)
> 


So is THAT the reason for your posting on this?  If
so, well then, you totally misunderstood about where I
am coming from.

I COULDN'T CARE LESS about what political views the
people who post here hold.  There are COUNTLESS places
on the Internet I could go to if I wanted to argue
politics with someone.  

When I am around people who share my interest in
music, the LAST thing I want to talk about is
politics.   The audience of my Internet radio station,
for example, includes people from every corner of the
ideological spectrum imaginable. And unless they are
associated with and/or apologists for the
RIAA/SoundExchage, I welcome all of them.  Music
transcends politics.  For me, music is a refuge from
the many serious concerns that face the world today -
and I hope that my station provides such a refuge for
people regardless as to whether they agree or disagree
with me on now the problems facing the world ought to
be dealt with.

I will be the very FIRST person to agree that a forum
like this is NOT the place to debate the merits of
things like socialism verses capitalism.

The ONLY reason I even brought up the subject of
socialism was in RESPONSE to the following SLANDER by
Bob of two things that I am a staunch supporter of
(webcasting and free enterprise) when he wrote:  

">Free Enterprise just
> isn't a good enough
> business model for these folks. Wouldn't it be nice
> if Congress also put a
> cap on our housing prices?"


My ONLY point in bringing up mention of socialism was
in order to refute the utter absurdity of calling the
present system where prices are set by a GOVERNMENT
PANEL as being anything that even remotely resembles
"free enterprise." 

What is especially frustrating about Bob's quote, by
the way, is if ANYONE is going to the government and
asking for intervention in the free market, it is NOT
the webcasters but rather the RIAA which asked for and
received government imposed rates designed to kill off
the webcasters in order to prevent artists from being
in a position to themselves become competitors to the
major labels.   It is not the webcasters who have a
"bad business model" that needs to be propped up
artificially by government support.  It is the RIAA
labels that are irrelevant in today's world and need
to go out and either find a new business model or
perish.