you may have heard a little about the 'Day of Silence' that broadcasters participated in on June 26th.

that recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) in the U.S. not only more than doubles the royalties paid on songs, it also makes no distinction, unlike all decisions before it, between public non-commercial radio and commercial radio. royalties are paid on a flat per song per listener basis and many smaller internet stations will be forced to shut down for good when this legislation takes effect on July 15th, and retroactively penalizes stations back until Jan 1st, 2006.

the Internet Radio Equality Act supports the need for multiple licensing levels along the lines of the ones that currently exist. from National Public Radio:

On Friday, March 2, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) released a decision that will dramatically increase the royalties payments owed to rights holders to stream sound recordings of music offered on the internet. This includes public radio websites. Responding to requests from several parties (including NPR, representing public radio), the Board then granted a rehearing on this issue, with written arguments due on April 2.

The decision by the CRB affects all public radio stations because it:

* Eliminates the distinction between noncommercial and commercial media
* Requires complicated record-keeping that will place a huge burden on stations
* Penalizes public radio for fulfilling its statutorily-mandated mission of bringing new, culturally enriching programming to the American public
* Sets a chilling precedent for future rights discussions, negotiations and litigation that may undermine non-commercial public service programming

links:
Tell Them Public Matters - Radio
Online-Radio Royalty Fight Reaches New Pitch - WSJ.com
FMC | Statement on Webcasting Rates
Savenetradio.org
News: Higher Music Royalty Rates — KCRW | 89.9FM

to support the Internet Radio Equality Act click here to personalize a letter to your representatives in congress, or write your local representatives

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if i was american i'd do that

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Karmi .....

Rubbish! Shame non-US people can't do anything about it - it seems silly that we can't, when it's not just American people who listen to American internet radios. That doesn't happen with normal radio, so why should it happen with internet?

Will it happen with last.fm, and will that mean we'll have to pay for it? Does anyone know?

read this: make some noise

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then she dances skirt swaying in the half-light she dances white blossom in the black sky
'I need new clothes', she thinks, 'new skin, a mind I can bear to live in'.

Wow. Is this for real? They're like a supply teacher that's lost control of the class.

ok, i dont get it. what's the big fucking deal about internet radio?
meaning... why are Clear Channel and whoever else, got bees in their bonnets about it?

thanks for posting that. good discussion. i scanned over last.fm before and missed that. i didn't know they were UK based or owned by CBS either. they (Felix Miller) seem pretty nonchalant about these royalty hikes. aren't the price of American royalties twice as affordable in Britain on account of our dollar being weaker? last.fm may be the only one left after this is all done. last.fm and myspace?

i'm afraid of losing access to many of my favourite college radio feeds. a lot of college radio stations are run on shoestring budgets sponsored by student body organizations. to ask them to compete on the same level as commercial radio stations is just ridiculous! college radio plays music that you don't hear on any other radio station - the kind of artists that don't get airtime on commercial stations. these artists will have to resort to advertising, word-of-mouth, journalism, and all other inaudible non-realtime formats to get the same amount of exposure as their chart-successing counterparts. there is no way these listener-subsidized stations can compete with commercial-subsidized stations. not without playing commercials. or charging us to listen. this is a BIG favour to the major labels. they are essentially shutting down the route of the internet to alternative radio and putting music back in terms of commercial formats that are indirectly supported by the listeners.

from the Future of Music Coalition link:

Future of Music Coalition fully supports the digital performance royalty but we reiterate the position that we’ve held since the first round of webcast rate-setting in 2002: we will not support "one size fits all" rates and processes that will not let small and noncommercial webcasters survive. The rates and reporting requirements should not disincentivize webcasting from happening, especially in an environment where most commercial terrestrial radio doesn’t play anything outside a few major-label driven hits. The webcasters of noncommercial stations across the country, as well as online radio stations across the world, are the best and most enthusiastic supporters of both the best new music and the diversity of niche formats....

Radio has been important to the music industry. In the traditional music business model, radio was seen as the best – and possibly only – way to "break" a record. Except in some rare cases, breaking a record on commercial radio was a prerequisite to the sale of the hundreds of thousands of copies needed for major labels to recoup costs.

Despite its importance to broadcasters, advertisers, musicians, labels and the listening public, there is mounting evidence that the traditional commercial radio model is broken. As we have documented in two substantial reports,[2] the consolidation of radio station ownership that has occurred since the 1996 Telecommunications Act has had a dramatic effect on the state of radio for musicians and the American public. According to our December 2006 study:

* Just fifteen formats make up three-quarters of all commercial programming. Moreover, radio formats with different names can overlap up to 80% in terms of the songs played on them.
* Niche musical formats like Classical, Jazz, Americana, Bluegrass, New Rock, and Folk, where they exist, are provided almost exclusively by smaller station groups and noncommercial broadcasters.

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well, my first thought is that they want to control exactly what people hear and this is the best way to rule out everybody else, but they're probably thinking more along the lines of napster hooligans playing their music online somewhere without having to pay royalties. they want money for that. twice as much. no exceptions. the CRB decision was the bluntest and quickest legislation they could come up with.

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