Various Artists - netBloc Volume 6 (Maniacally toying with your listening habits) (BSCOMP0006, 2007)

Thanks again to everyone who participated in Volume 6 and everyone of you who has downloaded it and are listening to it while you read this. It was quite a bumpy ride this month, but in the end it all came together. A couple weeks late, but a wonderful collection none-the-less.

I must admit, it’s quite the balancing act to get this to you on time since I can’t really do any of the important work (reviews and liner- notes prep) until I have source audio for every chosen track. If I don’t have the source audio, the track order is not set in stone and there’s a chance that I may need to replace a track if I can’t open a line of communication with the artist/label for that particular one.

This time around, the tracklist went through a record two rounds of changes. Either permission/asset requests went unheeded or assets couldn’t be acquired in a timely manner. However you look at it, the artists/labels who made it into netBloc Volume 6 helped make it a reality and I thank them very much.

The month of June has proven to be interesting with regard to music. In response to an attempt by the RIAA to hike royalty rates for netcasting, the online broadcasting community came together and decided on June 26 as a “Day of Silence”. A day that (in protest of the possible royalty rate increase) many netcasters would not broadcast. Many… though not all. That’s the first problem with this day of silence. Not everyone could agree that a day of silence would be effective. One of the most high-profile members of the online broadcasting community last.fm chose to opt out of the day of silence altogether since according to them “turning off the radio is just plain wrong”. Well, they are owned by CBS and I’m quite sure that their new corporate overlords wouldn’t approve of them falling out of line with corporate interests. Money talks, after all.

I also feel that the “Day of Silence” is misguided. The other problem with it is that it completely misses the point. Why fight to broadcast RIAA music at all? The RIAA and mainstream music industry has proven to be very anti-consumer. Why would you want to fight to continue to be beaten? Stop listening and maybe the RIAA artists will license their music independently.

If you choose not to broadcast RIAA music, it sure doesn’t mean the end of your broadcasting career. It just opens up a wide world of possibilities. One which contains a huge catalog of openly-licensed music that does not charge a royalty fee for broadcasting it. After-all broadcasting music is advertising. This is one fact that the RIAA has tried to cover up. They aren’t doing the broadcaster any favors by allowing them to broadcast RIAA music. The broadcaster is doing the RIAA a favor by advertising their music.

Turn off RIAA broadcasting… turn on Creative Commons and open-licensed radio.

Phew!! Volume 6, finally released! A couple weeks behind but we made it none-the-less. This great collection features rock, pop, trip-hop and electronica from all over world – Basque, Canada, Italy, France, United Kingdom and the United States.