Member Since: 9/9/2005
Band Website: puresteeleradio.net
Band Members:Online Radio Is Saved; SoundExchange Will Not Enforce New Royalty Rates
on Sunday!
By Eliot Van Buskirk EmailJuly 12, 2007 | 7:35:30 PM
Categories: Save Net RadioAt today's Congressional hearing about the new rates for online radio
that would essentially destroy it (as readers of this blog already
know), SoundExchange, which was scheduled to receive the new royalty
payments on Monday morning (since the enforcement date falls on a Sunday), made a startling statement.The SoundExchange executive promised -- in front of Congress -- that
SoundExchange will not enforce the new royalty rates. Webcasters will
stay online, as new rates are hammered out.I just spoke with Pandora founder Tim Westergren, who expressed relief
that Pandora wouldn't have to shut down on Sunday in response to the
new rates. He said, "It was getting pretty close. I always had
underlying optimism that sanity was going to prevail, but I was beginning to
wonder."He said everyone who called their Congress person about this should
feel that they had an effect on the process:"This is a direct result of lobbying pressure, so if anyone thinks
their call didn't matter, it did. That's why this is happening." The flyer DiMA distributed to Congress today probably helped a bit too, but overall, it appears Congress intervened due to pressure from web radio listeners.Funnily enough, Westergren told me this mere hours after a representative of SoundExchange said that the new rates are "etched in stone." Twice. Evidently not.Westergren had more to say, lending insight into a process that was
largely opaque to non-participants. Apparently, the per-channel minimum
fees mandated by the Copyright Royalty Board were never taken very
seriously by those involved. They've now been taken off the table
completely, saving Pandora, Live365, and other multicasters from their most
imminent threat."No one thought those per station fees were remotely rational. It only
makes sense that they're being taken off the table."As for the Copyright Royalty Board? They're entirely cut out of the
process, having set the rates and then refused a rehearing. Going
forward without the royalties being collected, SoundExchange and webcasters will negotiate a new royalty rate with Congress looking over their
shoulder -- "and last but not least, the public looking over Congress's
shoulder." Alternatively, Congress now has time to consider the Internet
Radio Equality Act, which would set webcaster royalties at 7.5 percent
of revenue and allow them to continue operating pretty much as they have
been.Either way, this is a big win for webcasters and their listeners.The full story can be found here -
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/07/breaking-news-o.html
The first year, we tested the water...
This Year
WE MAKE WAVES!
We're preparing for world domination.The "New" Industry Standard In Radio Dominance...