WHILE INTERNET RADIO starts to go to the wall over copyright, an idea that the stations should play music from non-RIAA members has been kyboshed.
The RIAA's collection body Sound Exchange has decided that it has the right to collect money from radio stations even if the artist is not an RIAA member.

According to www.dailykos.com, the RIAA has secured the right to collect royalties on all songs regardless of who controls the copyright. Artists who want the cash Sound Exchange collects will have to join the RIAA to collect it. The kicker is that they will have to pay the RIAA for collecting the fee even if they wanted to be paid directly by the Internet radio station.

You will only get royalties if you are not signed to a major record label.

According to the Sound Exchange site, most of the money it is collecting is from indie labels which are not members of the RIAA. That means that they cannot get their artists' money. Meanwhile the RIAA sits on the cash.

How in the fuck is this legal? The RIAA is basically collecting royalties from songs, that are from artist that don't even belong to the RIAA! Why does it suddenly feel like the RIAA are some corporate mafia, going around and muscling "protection" money from any and all who cross their path?