sOUNDTRACK tO mY lIFE (Aug 2008)

This months soundtrack is loaded with the usual goodness you’ve come to expect from the sOUNDTRACK tO mY lIFE. But instead of telling you about the music I’d like to take some time to tell you about what’s going on with the landscape of online music services.

Due to unfair licencing fees set earlier this year – it costs online music services almost 4 times as much as satellite radio and nothing for typical radio stations – online music services such as Pandora are on the brink of shutting down their sites. In fact the great retro music mix site Muxtape has already been forced to shut down – although not exactly from the costs of licensing. You can learn about how the RIAA created legislation which charges outrageous fees to online services while letting traiditional terrestrial radio pay just a small fraction of those same fees. In an effort to save pandora and bring online music fees inline with typical radio stations please take a bit of time to do one or more of the following.

There are a few things you can do to help save Pandora and level the playing field for online music:

• Print this PDF and fax it to Sound Exchange: 202.640.5859 (Link to PDF)
• Call your members of congress: Click Here
• Buy you’re next track or album via Pandora

Now that you’re done something to help online music (right, you’re going to send you’re congressman a letter?) you deserve a great soundtrack this month. So here it is, and as a bonus take a look at the great video First Aid Kit put together for a cover of the Fleet Foxes song Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.
Photo credit: Bryan Fenstermacher for Neon Mic