 FAIRadio is an acronym for First Amendment Internet Radio.
FAIRadio’s first webcast began as a personal endeavor by its original founders in March, 2002, and the broadcast quickly became popular with Internet radio listeners. The thrust of the original broadcast stream was to promote the concept of an open and free Internet broadcast platform that was to accessible to all, both listener and broadcaster.
FAIRadio.net is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as a licensed internet webcaster authorized to webcast authorized
performance recordings and other content over the Internet. Portland Internet Radio is licensed and operated by the Music Arts Department of Rose City Gymnastics Academy of Portland, Oregon. FAIRadio.net is webcast free to listeners worldwide by the Music Arts Department using a streaming platform provided by Live365.com, the world’s largest Internet radio network. PIR provides 100 percent of the entertainment content on its webcasts, and is
licensed directly through SoundExchange. When you listen to PIR streams, you can be assured that artists and copyright owners are being compensated by the royalties paid by PIR. Certain other independent content owners have licensed broadcast performance rights directly to Fairadio.net.  Our mission is to promote the development of the
music arts by featuring both legacy and new discovery artists, and to offer the public a broader cultural experience through the powerful medium of the Internet to offer listeners quality programming of an original and unique nature. To this end we have adopted a mixed format supported by the Music Arts Department.
FAIRadio was created at a time when there were serious doubts that Internet radio would be allowed to coexist with the large commercial
monopolies that generally control the entertainment industry. In 2007, the U.S. Copyright Office announced sweeping increases in performance royalties collected by the mainstream music recording industry which would have cost PIR hundreds of thousands of dollars in back royalty payments. The copyright royalty changes were made retroactive to 2006, and accrued broadcast performance royalties threatened.
Under a series of arbitrary rules established by the Library of Congress, PIR was not permitted to participate in royalty payment negotiations because it did not exist prior to 2006. In order to meet this challenge, the founders turned over the rights and operational ownership to the Music Arts Department of the Academy, an organization which has existed and operated since 1999. 2009 Board of Directors
Les L. French, President, Chairman (Portland Community College)
Lisa A. Ennis, Director (American Express Company)
James J. Bigoni, Director (Bigoni International Publishing Corporation)
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