Internet Radio In Danger of Extinction in United States

An anonymous reader passed us a link to a Forbes article discussing dire news for fans of Internet radio. Yesterday afternoon saw online broadcasters, everyone from giants like Clear Channel and National Public Radio to small-fry internet concerns, arguing their case before the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). The CRB's March 2nd decision to increase the fees associated with online music broadcasting will have harsh repercussions for those who engage in the activity, the panel was told. "Under a previous arrangement, which expired at the end of 2005, broadcasters and online companies such as Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit could pay royalties based on estimates of how many songs were played over a given period of time, or a 'tuning hour,' as opposed to counting every single song ... [They] also asked the judges to clarify a $500 annual fee per broadcasting channel, saying that with some online companies offering many thousands of listening options, counting each one as a separate channel could lead to huge fees for online broadcasters." There was also a previous provision for smaller companies that allowed them to pay less, something the March 2 decision did away with; in the view of the royalty holders, advertising more than pays for these fees, and they're ready for higher payments.

Comments

In all honesty...

[physicsboy500]

...you should have to pay something for radio in general whether it be in ads or a subscription fee... that I have no problem with. What I have a problem with is the RIAA taking a healthy share for themselves and leaving much less for the bands and the stations that actually provide the music. Why do you think it is that small towns don't have stations with big name songs and artists... It's simply a factor of RIAA fees. If the artists had a better spokesperson music would be how it was intended and reach everyone that wanted to hear.

I didn't log in right away... It's funny that my image verification word was detest

Internet Radio? What about the Consitution?

[Jerry]

BOTH political parties, and their syncophants, have been hammering the Bill of Rights pretty hard for the last 20 years, but BUSH, with the CONSENT of all but one politician, did the worst with the "Patriot Act".

What's just as bad: members of both parties genuflect before multinational mega corporations for "campaign contributions", which they later convert to their personal use when they retire from 'public' service. That's why these contributions are nothing more than bribes, folks! That's why we got the DMCA, why the DRM may become US law, why the US gov paid hundreds of MILLIONS to cable companies for them to deploy optical cable (after local and state governments began deploying optical cable on their own) only to have the cable companies take the money and finger their promises. That's why one special interest lobby group's payoff cancels the vote of millions of citizens. All in the name of "free enterprise".

And you're surprised that Internet Radio may die in the USA?