Bill to save Internet radio stars
On Thursday, a bill that could save Internet radio was submitted to Congress. The bill, the Internet Radio Equality Act, would stop a new royalty scheme that Internet broadcasters say will shut them down because it will cost them too much money.
U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) filed the legislation Thursday. The bill reverses a recent decision of the federal CRB (Copyright Royalty Board) to nearly triple the amount of royalties Internet radio broadcasters pay to copyright holders for playing a song.
The CRB earlier this month approved a rule that would force commercial Internet radio stations, regardless of their size, to pay a new, higher flat fee to the record labels each time a song is played.
Royalty rates for Web-casters, starting retroactively at $0.0008 per song in 2006, will climb to $0.0019 per song in 2010. As it stands now, the rates will go into effect May 15.
In a press release Inslee states: “This Titanic rate increase is simply untenable for many Internet radio broadcasters.”
Source: www.infoworld.com
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