Web Radio

The Recording Industry Artist's Association has continued to shoot themselves in the foot. Their stance on the debate on web radio royalties will only hurt the music industry, especially if they win.

For those not in the know, the music industry recently came knocking before Congress, looking for a way to pad revenue in difficult economic times. Their proposed solution was to impose a royalty tax on terrestrial radio, and increase the rate on web radio. The proposed rates would destroy all viable forms of the burgeoning web radio business.

It would, truthfully, mark the end of a historically successful business model: artists and labels pay the stations for airtime, not the other way around. It's essentially a form of advertising. This move, however, is going to leave the already struggling radio stations with no alternative but to either be driven into bankruptcy by this decision, or make the move to independent music, something the RIAA does not want, to be sure.

The idea that radio, even web radio stations like Pandora, hurt music revenue is laughable. Most of the music I own today, all legally purchased, I would have never even heard of were it not for Pandora. The RIAA maintains that a web radio listener could use it as a replacement for a music collection, which is frankly untrue.

Note that I don't defend music piracy. The RIAA's lawsuits are outlandish, but there is the ever present air of "Aha! I found a loophole!" in the attitudes of the music pirates.

Thankfully, Congress allowed web radio to survive, in a weakened form, but the RIAA is going to continue to harp about this until either radio, or the recording industry, is destroyed.

A little bit on sports

Like many people in South Jersey, I follow Philadelphia sports with a perhaps unhealthy degree of loyalty. Like many people in the United States, I watched the Eagles/ Bears game on Sunday Night Football yesterday. I decided to take some space here to discuss it, because it's something I feel strongly about.

1. I'm not sure that Sav Rocca's going to pan out. An 11 yard punt just isn't going to cut it in this league, or any league, really. Rocca seems to alternate between kicking sixty yards and twenty, but I'd personally rather have one that just consistently hit 35.

2. DeSean Jackson's really found his role in the Eagle offense. Early in his rookie year, the Eagles were using him in a very slot-receiver, hooks-and-slants, Wes Welker-type role. They've learned to compensate for his size and take better advantage of his speed by turning him into a Randy Moss-style bombs-away receiver. His 48-yard touchdown reception last night was his shortest score of the year, which is really just remarkable.

2. The defense needs outside linebacker Akeem Jordan back. The defense has looked throughly mediocre against Dallas, San Diego, and now Chicago, and the depletion of the linebacking corps seems to be the only apparent cause.

3. Here's hoping that Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel are both healthy. Having Quentin Mikell and Macho Harris playing corner might work against Chicago receivers Devin Hester and Johnie Knox, but it won't work as well against Washington receivers Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El, and it really won't work against San Francisco receivers Michael Crabtree and Josh Morgan.

4. It's nice to be able to run, huh? Good game by LeSean McCoy last night filling in for Brian Westbrook, who I'm not expecting to see in uniform again.

5. Speaking of which, it's good to see the league paying more attention to concussions. They're very serious injuries, and in the past players were willing to play through them. The inuries to Westbrook, et al. has finally brought some needed attention to the issue. As much as I'd love to see Brian Westbrook back, it's not remotely worth it if it means he'd be in a wheelchair the rest of his life.

6. The people on Football Night in Philly are a little annoying. I'm no fan of the Michael Vick signing, and I'm not going to pretend that he's been productive this year, but last night the talking heads on FNP were downplaying Vick's 35-yard run because "it's not the Wildcat. McNabb's not on the field." It seems to me to be a rather irrelevant distinction.

7. That's hardly a defense of Vick. The direct-snap offense has been much more potent with WR Jeremy Maclin, WR DeSean Jackson, and RB LeSean McCoy that it has been with Vick.

8. Not the Eagles game, but I never thought in a million years that I would have actually wanted to see a Cleveland Browns/ Detroit Lions game. What a wild finish.

What is a Hero?

So, there's a new project in the wings, one that centralizes on a key question: what is a hero?

We all need heroes. Like it or not, there's always someone we try to emulate, someone we look up to; and I want to know what characteristics define that person.

What makes a little boy pick up and stick and pretend to slay dragons? Is it because his hero is a Luke Skywalker, the anointed chosen one? Or is it because his hero is simply a good man? Would someone be less of a hero if they learned that they were not, as previously supposed, preordained to save the world?

Abraham Lincoln is an icon of mine, and I feel that what gets lost in his deification (the Lincoln Memorial was designed to look like the Temple of Zeus) is that Abraham Lincoln was a good, good man. Would he be less of a good man if he'd never won the presidency? Probably not, in my view. But, at the same time, I would have never heard of him.

It's basically going to be a deconstruction of the idea of a hero, and I look forward to bringing it to you.