Bluegrass Battleship Goes Down!

Roger Randolph,
owner of The Bluegrass Mix

The Bluegrass Mix, one of the Internet powerhouse broadcast outlets for bluegrass music has been sunk with a final shot from the Sound Exchange - a group that collects royalty fees from licensed music that is played over the web (an independent digital collective management organization).  

On December 16th of last year, the Copywrite Royalty Judges issued their written determination of royalty rates and terms to apply from January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2020.  (Read their statement HERE.)

Roger Randolph, owner of The Bluegrass Mix, said his fees have now jumped to almost $2000 per month, with the biggest blow being served by SoundExchange at $1654.52 for the month of January alone.  He said previous fees were only about $150 per month.

"I am sorry to inform our faithful and dedicated listeners that The Bluegrass Mix can no longer afford to stay on the internet stream.  This is due pretty much entirely on one entity who collects an ASTRONOMICAL fee involved in the performance royalties on the internet...SoundExchange.    We are PROUD to have been a part of your listening experience and hope that someday in the future we will have the opportunity to once again take to the internet airwaves and play the music that deserves to be played."