My thanks to Peter Kafka at Media Memo for making me aware of this.

Here's the 10-second takeaway for those of you creating web radio stations:

"...streaming music royalties are really, really tiny. And given that streaming music start-ups are struggling to pay even that much, this is not going to change for quite some time."

If we focused our attention and resources on the stuff that is making money, namely our broadcast stations, maybe we'd actually be able to stop firing people and start hiring those who can make awesomeness an hourly experience again.

I hope this isn't a picture of the "new media" owner, but until at least one of these streaming companies actually starts producing real, measurable revenue, who knows?

Jerry Lee is a smart guy, and when he couldn't figure out how to make money streaming his station, especially at the new rates being charged for the music, he shut it down.

There are a lot worse role models to follow in our business...