Internet Radio Gets Support From Senate

[Nicoco]

Since the issue has been discussed lately, i thought i'd share what i read a couple of days ago. check out these two articles.

Courtesy of Yahoo:

Internet Radio Gets Support in Senate

Barry Levine, newsfactor.com Fri May 11, 1:02 PM ET

The effort to roll back royalty rates for Internet radio got two more Congressional allies Thursday, when Senators Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting record) (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) (R-KA) introduced legislation that mirrors a similar bill filed recently in the House of Representatives.


Like H.R. 2060, introduced by Reps. Jay Inslee (news, bio, voting record) (D-WA) and Don Manzullo (R-IL) late last month and supported by more than five dozen cosponsors, the Senators' Internet Radio Equality Act would vacate a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to dramatically increase the fees paid by online stations for playing music.

The Act would establish a royalty rate for 2006 to 2010 that would equal the rate currently paid by satellite radio services, which is 7.5 percent of revenue. It also would align the standard in royalty arbitrations for online stations with satellite radio royalty arbitrations.

March 2 Ruling

The March 2 ruling by the Board increases royalty fees that Web radio stations pay, by as much as 300 percent for larger stations and 1,200 percent for smaller ones. On April 16, the CRB upheld its earlier decision and refused webcasters' request to stay implementation of the new royalty rates until legal appeals were conducted. However, recently the Board set July 15, instead of May 15, as the date for the new rates.

One small Net radio station, SomaFM in San Francisco, has said that it paid about $22,000 in royalties in 2006, but that, under the new ruling, it would have to pay about $600,000 annually. It said its total annual revenue, from listener contributions, was about $200,000.

As expected, the SaveNetRadio coalition applauded the Senators bill. "Since the CRB's ruling," said spokesperson Jake Ward, "Internet radio listeners, webcasters, and the artists they promote have joined together to urge Congress to prevent this vibrant industry from going silent on July 15."

SoundExchange, the nonprofit organization that collects royalties on behalf of the rights holders and the group that had brought the matter to the CRB, opposes the Senate and House bills. Referring to the House version, SoundExchange Executive Director John Simson had said that the idea "that this bill would help small webcasters is ludicrous since less than 2 percent of all royalty payments in 2006 came from small webcasters. The true beneficiaries are the mega-multiplex services like AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Clear Channel, which will benefit" from lower rates.

Small Stations, Large Stations

Forrester analyst James McQuivey said he was "torn" about this issue. "On the one hand," he said, "this is a nascent-enough industry that a high royalty rate can kill early entrants" and small stations. But, he noted, "most of the listening minutes are coming from very well-funded companies like Yahoo, Real Networks, major radio stations." The well-heeled stations can handle the new rates, he said, but it could very well mean curtains for the smaller ones.

The wise course of action, he said, is "to say, 'let's keep rates low for now so the smaller companies can get on their feet,'" and then revisit the issue later when the shape of the market has become more settled.

But the real problem, he noted, is that "nobody knows what this music is really worth" online. Streams can be measured, although one stream does not equal one listener, and the Net does not yet have Nielsen-like audience sampling that would encompass all the stations. The range of program sources in Net radio is also much greater than TV or over-the-air radio. Smaller Net stations proudly point to the many unknown musicians they play, while other stations play superstar bands.



Article Two:
Courtesy of Wired Blogs

Jazzmen To Congress: Save Net Radio

Snipshot_e4wk6w842w4 It's no secret that internet radio offers a lot more variety than you can find on AM, FM, or even satellite radio, so it should come as no surprise that members of the jazz community eager to see the webcasters who play their stuff thrive have sent a letter asking Congress to support H.R. 2060, the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would vacate the Copyright Royalty Board's new royalty rates that could bankrupt many webcasters on July 15.

"Clarinet wizard Dr. Michael White, legendary trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, jazz phenom 'Trombone Shorty,' Kidd Jordan" and over a dozen other jazz luminaries sent this letter to John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) -- chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees who are therefore in the best positions to intervene:

"Dear Chairman Conyers and Chairman Leahy:

"We are writing to request your leadership and urge your support to help save diversity and music on the Internet. As serious jazz, blues, and gospel musicians, we are extremely concerned that the recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will take us one step closer to silencing the next generation of artists. If Internet radio dies, the next Coltrane, Monk, or James may never be broadcast and their music never heard. Internet radio is a beacon for “non-mainstream” music; in fact, 37% of music broadcast on the Internet is from independent artists and labels, as opposed to 5% on traditional broadcast radio. We need Internet radio.

"And yet, the CRB just increased sound recording royalty rates for Internet radio by 300 to 1200 percent, and this causes us great distress. For most of these webcasters, the new royalty rates will exceed their revenues and they will have no choice but to let the music die. Literally. Chairman Conyers and Chairman Leahy, please do not let that happen.

"As you know, broadcast radio pays no royalties to recording artists; only Internet radio and satellite radio pay recording artists. Perhaps more importantly, broadcast radio plays so little jazz, blues and gospel music that Internet radio is, in many places the ONLY way we can introduce our music to new audiences.

"As artists we value our own music and others' music, and royalties are important. But if those royalties are so high that it bankrupts the very services that play the most jazz, blues and Gospel then those radio services will disappear and we all suffer. As a culture, our nation stands to be deprived of our brightest outlet for the next generation of new music – of all kinds.

"Please think how our uniquely American music would be different today if those rural and poor radio stations that lost money playing Armstrong and Ledbelly were taxed so exorbitantly that they were forced NOT to play their music. That is exactly what we are facing today. We respectfully request that Congress take action to prevent the demise of Internet radio. The new royalties go into effect July 15 so there is very little time; we hope you will help.

Sincerely yours,

Kermit Ruffins Dr. Michael White
Trumpeter Hot 8 Brass Band

Derek Shezbie
ReBirth Brass Band

Bennie Pete
Hot 8 Brass Band

Edward Kidd Jordan
Director, Heritage School of Music
Director, Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp

Marlon Jordan
Trumpet

Bennie Jones
Leader, Treme Brass Band

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews
Leader, Orleans Avenue

Big Chief Al Doucette
Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras Indian tribe

David Freedman
General Manager, WWOZ

John Boutte
The New Orleans Social Club

Lee Arnold
Director, Save Our Brass

James Andrews
Leader, Crescent City AllStars

Ariana Hall
The CubaNolaCollective

Sylvester Francis
Director, Backstreet Museum

Jackie Harris
Director, Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp

Todd Duke
Crescent City AllStars

Mario Madero
SpyBoy Productions"

[TranceFusion]

"The March 2 ruling by the Board increases royalty fees that Web radio stations pay, by as much as 300 percent for larger stations and 1,200 percent for smaller ones."
fuckin insane... politicians are really hungry for money and don't give a fuck about anything/anyone else


"One small Net radio station, SomaFM in San Francisco, has said that it paid about $22,000 in royalties in 2006, but that, under the new ruling, it would have to pay about $600,000 annually. It said its total annual revenue, from listener contributions, was about $200,000."
And politicians ignore this and expect SomaFM to pay $600 000.


"Internet radio listeners, webcasters, and the artists they promote have joined together to urge Congress to prevent this vibrant industry from going silent on July 15." <--- POWER OF THE PEOPLE


"If Internet radio dies, the next Coltrane, Monk, or James may never be broadcast and their music never heard."
+2378456245276423562345.
It's something that the politicians will never understand, they care about their own fat asses.



GREAT POST FLAME !!!! thx a lot hope is now stronger !!

[AnT-1]