Record Industry, Net Radio Should Be in Tune

The Recording Industry Assn. of America never fails to amaze [“Net Radio, Labels at Odds Over Royalties,” June 24].

Their actions are like those of tin-pot dictators, destroying their country in a desperate attempt to preserve their empire. The underlying stupidity of their efforts and the unseemly influence and control that they have purchased politically have never been so well evidenced as in the current battle over Internet copyright royalties.

They are literally fighting to shut down a phenomenon that allows many artists (a good percentage of whom they manage) exposure they would not receive anywhere else. Just as FM radio was a huge shot in the arm for a stagnant record industry, so too Internet radio easily could become a huge phenomenon that will allow an hitherto untapped worldwide audience to be reached.

It is understandable that Clear Channel Communications Inc., XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and other media conglomerates are actively lobbying our bought and paid for politicians and bureaucracies to shut down this burgeoning new media diversity on the Internet, because it directly threatens their monopolies.

But for the record companies to be at the forefront, leading the crusade, just shows how incredibly lamebrained and shortsighted these people really are.

Gerald Kamin

West Hollywood