astic and say it's approximately 152 days (going from June to October), or 3,648 hours, or 218,880 minutes... and then we'd smack you upside your head. It can be a short period of time (like in the case of summer where it truly flies by), or a long, dragged out period where it seems the current situation never ends. Thus is the case of certain aspects of 360 Degrees of Alternative.You may (or may not, but most of you did), noticed that the station was "not available to all listeners" on our host site Live365.com. This is because, for the last few months, we have been a VIP membership only station. Are we giving the middle finger to any and all non-paying listeners? Hardly. The music industry did that for us. Allow me to explain.
When I originally set up this station almost 2 years ago, I made it so anyone - paying or not - could listen along. If you were a non-paying listener, you just had to stomach some occasional commercials. To offer this service, I pay royalty fees on all the songs I play. Back then, they were very nominal, so it was no big deal. Everything was pretty hunky-dory until last May. At that time, the music industry announced that royalty fees would be increased through such services because profits are way down. At first, I didn't think too much of it, because I've heard this crap before. At worst, I thought, the fees would increase a little... and I mean very little. Well, they did... sort of.
When you think of an increase of 3 cents, many times you wouldn't bat an eyelash. However, when you add multiplication to the equation, that's when things got dicey. My royalties went up 3 cents per song... per month. I currently have over 4,200 songs in the stations current playlist. You can do the math. Needless to say, my monthly expenses to operate the station skyrocketed overnight. We didn't want to cut the station off at the gonads, so we went "private" for a while until we could sort things out. It looks like they're may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
We are hoping by January 1st 2012, we will return to the "all type of listener" access. We will once again be free-form or free-based, or whatever you want to call it. We still have listeners adding us as their favorites and the support emails are still being received. And for this, we thank you.
The blog has been no exception. It has been truly absent over the past 5 months. Between my regular job, working with the station, and a few other distractions this summer (including the process of finding new digs), the blog really took a back seat. Check that... more like moved to the trunk... and stuffed in a suitcase. Well, let's unpack and air it out!
The 2nd tag line is in reference to the people and events that have passed on this month. I was talking with a friend of mine and he mentioned that October is a rite of passage of sorts from summer to winter where many things in nature die... but this month, so far, is getting ridiculous.
By now, everyone is aware of the passing of Steve Jobs who helped revolutionized how we listen to music, work with computers, enjoyed movies, you name it. He will be missed.
It's also old news that R.E.M. is done after 31 years. The latest issue of Rolling Stone has a big interview on this, so you can check out all the dirt there. I must admit, the band was spot on by saying, "... we don't hate each other, we haven't run out on creativity, we're just... done." It reminds me of what Johnny Rotten, former front man for the Sex Pistols once said in an interview; "We knew (the Pistols) were done. So we just stopped. It's the easiest thing in the world. People won't understand, and that's their problem. If you don't want to be a rock star anymore, just stop being one."I was also glancing at some music news that took place over the past week. This seems to be the month for ending things in one form or another;
- Jani Lane, the current lead singer of Warrant dies of alcohol poisoning.
- RCA announces it will pull the plug on Arista, Jive & J Records.
- Ex Weezer bassist Mickey Welsh died in a Chicago hotel room.
- The Academy Is... calls it quits after 9 years & 3 albums.
- The Monkees cancel the remainder of their 45th anniversary tour.
... and this is just in the past few days! Jeez!!
However, there were also some highlights -
- My Chemical Romance's guitarist Frank Iero designs a guitar that will be sold for charity.
- Smashing Pumpkins finally kick off their tour in L.A. - and kick ass.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline for MTV's Europe Music Awards.
- Jane's Addiction rocks late night TV
... and this was just in the past few days! Cool!!
That's about it for now. We'll keep you posted with more updates when we get closer to our target date. Until then, keep listening & thanks again for the support. We'll still be here for you!
Peace out,
Dave
