If you’re tuning into web radio today and can’t find anything to listen to, don’t be surprised. Many web radio broadcasters are holding a day of silence to protest the hike in royalty payments for music played online. The protest is being organized by the SaveNetRadio Coalition, which includes some major players like RealNetworks and Viacom, and hopes to raise awareness of the royalty issue. As things stand, new royalty rates will take effect July 15. According to the protesters, they could cost web broadcasters an extra $1 billion in administration fees. Rates will rise by 300% over current fees, and the plans include proposals to charge royalties every time an online listener hears a song. “These proposals will bankrupt the industry,” claimed Jake Ward, spokesman for the SaveNetRadio Coalition. The Copyright Royalty Board made the decision to increase fees, but objections have come from across the spectrum of broadcasters. The new fees will apply until 2010, increasing year by year, with charges being retrospective to 2006. In addition to a $500 for every channel a broadcaster owns, there will be a flat for per-song, per-user. This could cost major broadcasters thousands per year.
Tag Archive: Jake Ward
Radio Webcasters Plan Day of Silence
Webcasters are planning a “Day of Silence” on Tuesday, June 26, to protest new Internet broadcast royalty rates scheduled to go into effect on July 15 in the United States. On June 26, participatingWebcasters will shut down their feeds to both bring attention to their cause and give Internet radio listeners a taste of what life might be like if new royalty rates go into effect. Some webcastersplan to shut down their feeds entirely; others will sprinkle announcements about the rate hike amidst stretches of silence.
“The campaign to save Internet radio—a genuine grassroots movement comprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists and independent labels, and Net radio listeners—has quickly brought this issue to the national forefront and the halls of Congress, but there is still more to be done before the approaching deadline of July 15th,” said Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio Coalition. “On Tuesday, thousands of webcasters will call on their millions of listeners to join the fight to save Internet radio and contact their Congressional representatives to ask for their support of the Internet Radio Equality Act
