I received a request from Internet radio provider Pandora to contact my Congressman before tomorrow's Congressional hearing concerning royalty payment schedules for web based stations. I didn't recall ever giving them my street address, but they somehow knew that unfortunately Vito Fossella is my Congressperson.

I wrote back that any requests to Vito from me would go deaf ears considering I spent most of my 2006 waking hours trying to cause him to be unemployed.

Unlike terrestrial radio, which pays fairly small fees to music copyright licensing companies such as ASCAP and BMI, Internet stations are charged ridiculously high per song rates by Sound Exchange which receives royalty payments for artists and the major record labels.

The new fee schedule will essentially kill web based music radio by making the cost of playing music prohibitive.

I rarely listen to terrestrial commercial music radio anymore because the playlists are repetitive or just outright suck.

Pandora is an interesting service. You can give them an artist or a song and they will put together a compatible playlist.

I put together a station based on the 70s Genesis song, "Supper's Ready". Tonight's Supper's Ready radio station music selections included Genesis, YES, Phish, Procol Harum and Jethro Tull.  read more »

Chris Owens, whose run for Congress did quite a bit to put Daily Gotham on the political radar in NYC, has now entered the blogsphere himself with his own blog, "Power From Truth."

From his introductory diary:

Welcome, friend, to "Power From Truth" -- my personal and political blog. This is my opportunity to experiment with free thought and free speech. I am not an experienced blogger, so forgive me if I breach protocol from time to time. And what I present here will often be controversial. What moves me to speak is the need for honesty in our discussion of issues -- particularly issues of race and class and their joint impact upon the American political environment.

We cannot grow as a nation -- we cannot truly protect ourselves as Americans -- unless we do the hard work and make the sacrifices needed to build a more democratic and more egalitarian society. That is why I participate in the political process; that is why I have embarked on this journey.  read more »

At first this was going to be about some local, NY stuff. Then Armando's outing got added on. Now some of the tiffs at My Left Wing are thrown into the mix.

I am not much on Meta-tation. To me the internet is a tool like a screwdriver, and I don't spend too much time considering the workings of a screwdriver when I use it. But events are happening that remind me that the internet is NOT just like a screwdriver so much as a telephone or megaphone and that issues that one would think we had learned long ago seem suddenly to be sweeping through the blogsphere.  read more »

Lisa Stone is one of the goddesses of the web. One of the founders of Women.com, she is part of the web's first-wavers; the people who helped shape this thing we call life online. She is also at the vanguard of the web 2.0 as a founder of BlogHer.

She is one of the sharpest people I have had the pleasure to work with --I am on BlogHer's advisory board. She brings her experience as business developer, social networker and technologist to everything she does.

Which is why, not until I read this on her blog did it occur to me that I had "Instalaunched" the New York Times and given them the opportunity to truly build their blog into a must-read by its own merit and not just because it is another extension of their brand :

[via Surfette: Remember "Step 1: No more rookie maneuvers"? Here's how NYTD can avoid delivering Exhibit C.]:

Here's what the NYTD team should do next: Pick door number 1 (above), declare success and work with your blog community. Liza has done you a favor. You've been hoping to recruit Liza's feedback and her readers and you did. Now email all the speakers at the Personal Democracy Forum happening in your neck of the woods on May 15 and ask them to help you test the blog. A blog does not stand alone -- anymore than one talks with one's self, if one wishes to continue charging premium ad rates. So partner with other bloggers to work out the kinks -- if you know what I mean, and I think after covering your competition's "free form editorial experiments," that you do.

Whatever you do, don't ignore Sabater's advice -- she's probably right, given some of the sensitivities at your organization, that she shouldn't have been able to log in and post just yet. Don't fail to take advantage of the fact that she has instalaunched your new blog. Don't, whatever you do, shut the thing down. Looks like the community might be as interested in this project as you are.

Guess what people ... I am one of those speakers at Personal Democracy Forum. And guess what mama's gonna talk about ...

The Rising Power of Local Political Blogs
Monday 15 May | 10 - 11 am
Nancy Scola (moderator), Aldon Hynes, Juan Melli, Scott Sala, Liza Sabater, Gur Tsabar  read more »

I am officially bumped out of the blog. I hope this is only temporary, until they formally invite me and most of the local bloggers on their blogroll, to come in as guest bloggers.

Yes. I think they ought to bring me into their blog. Me, the one who has been their most outspoken critic here in New York City. Why? Because that would show they've at least flipped the pages of The Cluetrain Manifesto.

I would give them real street cred to hire a real blogger, and not just a journo who types into a WordPress panel. It would show they have the moxie to acknowledge non-journos as not just content providers but media influencers. I for one are in that rare category of top blogger that didn't get here because some political party or big media company backed me up. I am the real deal as high-profile grassroots media disrupters go.

So hey Grey Lady! The ball is on your court now.

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