October 6, 2002
As reported by Kurt Hanson in Radio and Internet News (RAIN) (read the full article here), the AFL-CIO was a major player in the congressional effort to kill HR5469 and bring a swift end to thousands of independent Internet Radio stations.

When have you ever seen labor unions conspire with big business in a unified effort? It cold only happen in Hollywood, where both labor and the major media companies are aligned with the Democratic party. The enemy all three seek to destroy? Internet Radio.

Although there are individual Representatives and Senators who have stood firm with the traditional values of the Democratic Party, most have sacrificed their values to the gods of big political contributions. Long gone are the days when the Democrats fought for the little guy and individual's rights.

Most harmed by this unholy alliance are the musicians and artist, especially unsigned artists who will lose the only outlet for their music once Internet Radio is dead. In spite of this, the artist union quickly acted to prevent any settlement that might save Internet radio. At the same time they put their propaganda machine into overdrive, spewing out the most outrageous lies to mislead their own members into seeking their assured self destruction.

This is all happening only because the major record companies want absolute and total control of Internet Radio. They want to assure the "star making machine" remains intact, funnelling millions into their pockets, while eliminating all possibility of public choice or success of an unsigned independent artist.

Internet Radio threatens the model that brought 70 years of prosperity to the big labels. Through the use of massive payments to major radio corporations (payola, done legally through "independent" promoters), labels assure the success of hand picked artists and keep 100% of the profits.

An independent Internet Radio would give consumers a chance to hear other smaller artists and might usurp the big labels total control.

What is beyond understanding is why the labor unions would assist in an action that will harm their members.