Your independent source of bluegrass news.
Produced by Rounder Records and hosted by Brad Paul, the special includes a full hour of interview conversation with Dan Tyminski. Dan and Brad discuss the new CD Wheels, how Dan first became interested in bluegrass music, how he was invited to join AKUS, working on the O Brother soundtrack, and lots more.
So tune in this afternoon at 1PM. Online at BluegrassRadio.org. In South Georgia at 105.1 FM.
BluegrassRadio.org is a free, listen-supported Internet radio service that runs a 24/7 bluegrass feed, available for both iTunes and Windows Media. Visit their site to choose a feed and listen in anytime.
Artists to be recorded include Grasstowne, Lou Reid and Carolina, The Chapmans, and more.
The Grasstowne performance will be broadcast on Sunday April 20, 2008 @ 1 PM EDT. Next Saturday, April 26, 2008, BluegrassRadio.org will broadcast the entire main stage performance from all the bands. That will take place starting at 7 PM EDT.
If you don’t have plans Sunday, or next Saturday evening, be sure to attend the Riverbend Bluegrass Festival online at BluegrassRadio.org.
Clyde tells us that he took the station for their first road trip recently, and recorded interviews with Vic Graves of New Road and Steve Gulley of Grasstowne. The full hour of conversation and songs will be aired on BluegrassRadio.org this weekend, on Saturday (9/1) at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday (9/2) at 1:00 p.m. (EDT).
Clyde Scott writes in to tell us about some upcoming live shows that will be available on BluegrassRadio.org this weekend.
We are very excited to announce that next weekend the fun in South Georgia continues. Saturday 3/17, we will present Michelle Nixon and Drive, Live in the Bluegrass Radio studios. on Sunday 3/18, we will present Blue Moon Rising. Both bands will do a complete set live and we will record each for playback later each day. This is a wonderful time for BluegrassRadio.org considering that every effort is being made to kill internet radio. We will not let the music stop.
You might want to go read these posts here, here, and here if you don’t understand what Clyde is referring to with his last two sentences. Make sure you read the comments on that first post as well.
If you have any trouble connecting to BluegrassRadio.org during the shows, be patient and continue trying. Clyde has mentioned that due to this recent ruling he will be limiting the number of connections to the stream.
That is a powerful statement, suggesting an ominous and most unwelcome scenario. It was shared by Clyde Scott, who manages 24/7 bluegrass cybercaster bluegrassradio.org, as a comment to Brance’s post yesterday on the proposed new Copyright Roaylty Board fee structure for internet radio.
These new rates were negotiated with SoundExchange and, if enacted as currently proposed, do seem certain to make licensing of small to mid-sized online broadcasts cost prohibitive. These new fees are in addition to the songwriter royalties already being paid to the various performance rights organizations (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC).
Clyde’s comments included this cost analysis regarding bluegrassradio.org:
“Until recently we were averaging about 202,000 listening hours per month. This meant we had to pay Sound Exchange an average of an additional $300 per month. That has been tough for us. Now that we have grown our audience by hundreds, we are approaching 300,000 listening hours per month. The new rates allow us 159,140 hours per month for our annual payment (I have no idea where they come up with that number). Doing the math, we are over by 140,860 allowed hours and will be required to pay the commercial rate for those extra hours. This would average to about $1.50 per hour over the maximum allowed or $211,290.00 per month. WOW, you see where this is heading..??”
If Clyde’s numbers are accurate, this would not only be devastating for online bluegrass radio, but for any niche or alternative music form that has found an audience on the Internet.
Read Brance’s original post about the new rates here, which include Clyde’s comments.
We encourage our readers to share their thoughts about this issue, especially if you are a regular listener to online radio, or work for a station or show that is streamed online.
Clyde started the 24/7 streaming bluegrass site almost 3 years ago, and the article describes the time from his early days in broadcasting bluegrass over the air, to being selected as one of Bluegrass Unlimited’s Survey Reporting Stations.
He discusses merging his primary business (maintaining broadcast equipment) with his passion for bluegrass music.
"This was a hobby for me, but it turned into a whole lot more," he said. "The fact that the station has become pretty much self-supporting (mostly through listener donations) allows me to keep doing this. I program the music myself, and there have been times when I’ve had to make myself get up and go to work.”
"You have to be careful; once you get started, it’s like a disease. It’ll hook you."
Read the full article on The Albany Herald’s web site.
The interview focuses and how his life and music have been inspired by the Carter Family.
Carlene Carter guides us through this history of both Ralph Stanley and her own family. John Carter Cash, writer Billy Altman, and Aaron Davis (Executive Director of the Ralph Stanley Museum) also provide comments between Ralph Stanley”s new versions of these classic Carter Family songs.
We received a note from Clyde Scott at BluegrassRadio.org marking their second anniversary providing bluegrass music programming on the web.
“The success of the past two years has been overwhelming to say the least. I look forward to many more years streaming “Bluegrass Radio” to the thousands of listeners that connect everyday.
Just want to thank everyone for their continued support and for listening to the very best music anywhere, bluegrass.”
Clyde takes great pride in ensuring artists that BluegrassRadio.org webcasts are fully licensed with BMI, ASCAP, SESAC & Sound Exchange through Live365.com.
We just received a note from Rick Altis with High Ground, noting that they have been selected as the Artist Of The Month on BluegrassRadio.org. Previous recipients of this distinction include Valerie Smith and Blue Moon Rising.
Audio samples are available on their web site from the latest High Ground recording, Old Friends.
