Judge Rejects Appeal From Webcasters To “Save Net Radio”
Apr 17th, 2007 | By James Lewin | Category: GeneralInternet radio broadcasters that include traditionally-licensed music in their shows were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of copyright judges threw out a request to reconsider a recent hike in royalty rates they must pay to record companies and artists.
A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations, small startup companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, had objected to the new royalties, saying they would kill net radio.
The Copyright Royalty Board judges denied all motions for rehearing and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the new royalties will have to be collected.
According to N. Mark Lam, the CEO of Live365 Inc., under the new royalty rules, “there is no industry.”
SoundExchange, an industry group that collects online royalties from webcasters and distributes them to record labels and artists, hailed the ruling in a statement and said it looked forward to working with Internet radio companies in order to ensure that the industry succeeds.
Too bad there isn’t an alternative source of good music with a specific license that allows it to be played on internet radio shows. You know… music that would be SAFE to put on your iPOD.
Do I sense a bit of sarcasm there?
It does seem that webcasters that rely on mainstream traditionally licensed music and want to use it on their own terms want to have their cake and eat it, too.
I can’t begin to tell you how many artists, I have discovered on Pandora. As a result, I have legally downloaded music, bought CDs and DVDs as a result. If sites like Pandora disappear, my
music consumption will decrease not increase. Traditional radio and cable music channels do not
appeal to me in the least. I am rabid media consumer and they are cutting off my life line…
I hope this blows up in their greedy faces…..
This is an absolute disgrace. They have singled out small internet radio stations for extinction so that anyone interested in hearing any music must tune in to one of their crappy stations. It’s arbitrary (since terrestrial radio pays no performance royalties at all!), it’s presumptuous, it’s unfair and it’s unethical. Quadrupling internet royalty rates is a blatant attempt to monopolize the avenues by which people can listen to music. My only hoe is that it fails miserably and backfires. Someone should set up an indie music site where broadcasters can download content royalty free.