Music bloggers rail against moves to introduce licence

MUSIC bloggers have met the country’s music rights watchdog to discuss controversial new plans to impose a licence on websites which share music sent to them by bands.

Members of the online music community have railed against the move by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) to introduce a paid-for licence for anyone who is offering songs for download or streaming. It follows an agreement struck my IMRO with YouTube, but has been met with opposition from award-winning music blogs such as nialler9 and the torture garden.

According to the nialler9.com site, which is operated by Niall Byrne, a four-time winner of the Irish Blog award for best music blog, the licence has the potential to shut down the music sites and could have serious ramifications for the online music community.