DU this please. Save Net radio!

[Pryderi]

What's New!
http://www.savenetradio.org/

1. According to the CRB's statutory interpretation, the first payments for Internet radio webcasters are due July 15, 2007 instead of May 15, 2007. This is welcome news for webcasters, the artists they support, and the millions of listeners who enjoy Internet radio. SaveNetRadio.org will spend the next 45 days educating Members of Congress and their staffs about the incredible diversity of programming Internet radio offers us all. Keep the pressure up! Your call TODAY to your local rep would help get our message across.

2. The Save Net Radio Coalition speaks to Congress during the Webcasters Hill Walk on May 1st, 2007. Click here for more information and pictures.

3. Read RAIN's (Radio And Internet Newsletter) rebuttal of the latest SoundExchange press release.

4. Download H.R. 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act here.


Act Now!

The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger. Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on May 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). Internet radio needs your help! H.R. 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act was introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL) to save the Internet radio industry. Please call your congressperson to ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 2060 by clicking below.

Call Your Representative!

[Jelybe903]

1. Say it aint so....the day the music died!

Normally for entertainment while I'm surfing and reading I go to my favorite local independent radio station KPRIFM from Encinitas, California,that simulcasts on the web.... Today I went...and found a message posted that says they discontinued web casting because of a recent action by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington DC that has a formal order in the congressional minutes upping the copyright fees for web casters by 300 to 1200% and making those fees retro active to January 2006.

I'm a bit torn on this issue...I come from a family of musicans...some who have made a lot of money over the years with famous songs written and recorded by other people, and some who make royalties from having recorded on major labels. And I totally agree that they deserve a piece of the action.

The other side of me loves web casting sights like Pandora, Radio Paradise and KPRIFM because of the genre' of music they play and equal air time for up and comers. The fore-mats of these sights are a million steps away from what used to be the tried and true method of recording releases and stations where you hear the same song every hour on the hour.

My musician friends and family tell me that they will not nociably make any more or less...pennies purhaps...from he new copy right rulings. And my general feeling is that they are right, its another way to control what we listen and hear and profits by media giants.

KPRIFM refers to a websight on the issues relating to www.savenetradio.org . It asks for supporteres of HR 2060 a bill introduced by Rep. Inslee (D-WA). So far it seems that at the very least supporters of the bill have caused the Copyright Royalty Board to clarify their position as to when all back fees are to be paid current, moving the date from May 15 to July 17, 2007. The following is the transcript from the introduction of the bill to the House.

Remarks my Rep Inslee D-WA
5/02/2007

1. * Madam Speaker, on March 2, 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), a three member panel affiliated with the Library of Congress, issued a decision that changed royalty expenses for commercial and noncommercial webcasters and will likely end Internet radio as we know it today. According to the decision, which is retroactive beginning January 1, 2006 and commences through December 31, 2010, commercial and noncommercial webcasters would be subject to an increase in royalty rates from $.08 in 2006 per performance to $.19 per performance in 2010. The new royalty rates amount to a 300 percent increase for the biggest webcasters and up to 1200 percent for small webcasters. For most web casters the royalties will exceed their gross revenues and bankrupt them. The CRB has refused to reconsider its decision so the higher royalties--including retroactive royalties back to January 2006--are due May 15, 2007. My fear is that these new rates will decimate Internet radio and 70 million Americans that listen to Internet radio every month will no longer have access to this music service.

* For these reasons, I have introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act which provides royalty parity for Internet radio providers. The bill vacates the CRB's March 2nd decision and changes the royalty rate-setting standard that applies to commercial Internet radio royalty arbitrations so that it is the same standard that applies to satellite radio, cable radio, jukeboxes, and record companies (when they are licensees of songwriters). The bill also sets a transition rate through 2010 that is the same royalty rate that satellite radio services pay (7.5 percent of revenue). Finally, the bill expands the Copyright Act's Section 118 musical work license for noncommercial broadcasters like National Public Radio to enable those broadcasters to also perform sound recordings over Internet radio at royalty rates designed for noncommercial entities.

* I believe strongly that it is the responsibility of Congress to promote media diversity in all areas including web-based broadcasting and to ensure affordable consumer access to Internet media. "



I would be interested in hearing comments from the DU ...Tell me what you think...