It does look like the death of internet music based radio. They are now required to pay (what seems like) more royalties than regular radio.

The bummer is this: Smaller artists who have a label deal but aren't yet huge won't get played online because of the new fees. And even bigger artists on major labels who may only have niche followings will lose exposure (which sells concert tickets and CD's plus paid downloads).

Internet radio only helps promotes music sales. Most of the artists making huge music sales anymore (outside of American Idol stuff) are retro acts that appeal to people who still actually buy CD's. What is going to happen in 20 years when people no longer buy CD's?

I agree that the music industry (record labels) only have themselves to blame. They should not only be encouraging internet radio, but lobbying internet radio to play their artists. They should want to encourage steaming of broadcast radio so that the artists they own get even more reach (and more sales).

Be interesting to see how it all shakes out.