If you’re reading this, chances are good that you’ve become a fan of mine through [tag]podcasting[/tag] or some other [tag]internet[/tag] venue. So it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m following this little debate closely.

In case you weren’t aware, there’s a battle raging quietly about [tag]internet regulation[/tag] that will eventually determine whether or not tiny businesses like podcasters and [tag]indie artists[/tag] can even afford to use the internet to promote and expand.

The companies that own the cables and wires believe they should be able to charge businesses more money than consumers- basically, if I start selling downloads directly from this website, I’d either have to cough up more money to pay [tag]Comcast[/tag] or make do with artificially-slow speeds. And God help any business that wants to compete with the people who own the wires; if you think these corporate behemoths don’t own interest in other fields, you’re just not paying attention.

Some would argue that, since they own the pipes, they should be able to charge what they want and let the “[tag]free market[/tag]” drive prices down. Sort of like charging $2,000 more for a V8 over a V6 in the same truck. The flaws in that logic are that the “competition” consists of three giant companies who aren’t getting any new competitors any time soon, and that so many different kinds of industries rely on their current internet setup that a sudden bottleneck would kill all kinds of businesses.

Like mine.

As a musician, it’s rough enough having to pay for [tag]cable[/tag] or [tag]DSL[/tag] just to be able to upload new music and spread the word. If [tag]AT&T[/tag] is given the power to extort more money out of guys like me, the entire [tag]indie music[/tag] world might suffer greatly. Podcasters would certainly find themselves up a creek. Some might argue that the [tag]telecoms[/tag] wouldn’t make things worse than they already are, but those people obviously don’t know the power of human [tag]greed[/tag].

Just to clarify, this is not about offering different speeds to end users at different prices. They already do that. What’s at stake here is offering different prices to different types of users (consumers vs. businesses, for example). The telecom heavyweights want nothing less than to make content providers (me) pay more than the customers they service (you) for the exact same bandwidth.

It’s not only unamerican, it’s unconscionable. And it’ll kill the indie music scene if we let it happen. I don’t know what you can do just yet, other than writing to your Senators and Congressional Reps about it. That’s a good way to start, though. Then visit savetheinternet.com and spread the word.