Post by Eldarion on Mar 9, 2007 9:13:27 GMT -5
The US Copyright Office recently accepted a proposal from the recording industry to impose a new set of royalty rates for internet radio stations. These new rates are unfair and ridiculously high, and threaten to put many internet radio stations out of business. It's not like these guys make a lot of money anyway (except for giants like AOL Radio or Launchcast). Now the RIAA mafia is trying to grab the rest of the scraps.
Besides being too high, the rates for these particular royalties are unfair because terrestrial radio stations WON'T HAVE TO PAY A PENNY.
You can read more at these links:
www.betanews.com/article/Dissecting_the_Proposed_Internet_Radio_Royalty_Fees/1173391352/2
www.saveourinternetradio.com/2007/03/04/the-view-from-paradise/
www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml
You can find links to an online petition at Radio Paradise, along with links explaining how to contact your congressional representatives by phone or email. Please let Congress know that you support internet radio and that you're sick and tired of the RIAA's extortion tactics.
Besides being too high, the rates for these particular royalties are unfair because terrestrial radio stations WON'T HAVE TO PAY A PENNY.
You can read more at these links:
www.betanews.com/article/Dissecting_the_Proposed_Internet_Radio_Royalty_Fees/1173391352/2
On a per-listener scale, broadcast radio stations paid $1.56 per listener on average during 2006; and in 2010, that figure rises to $1.94 per listener. BetaNews estimates that Internet radio sites, by contrast, will pay $8.91 per listener for 2006, rising to $15.59 per listener in 2008 and staying flat beyond that time.
Thus an Internet radio music provider is likely to pay in royalties almost ten times the amount for each of its listeners throughout the year, than the terrestrial broadcaster.
Thus an Internet radio music provider is likely to pay in royalties almost ten times the amount for each of its listeners throughout the year, than the terrestrial broadcaster.
www.saveourinternetradio.com/2007/03/04/the-view-from-paradise/
There has been much discussion about how unfair these rates are, but our listeners find one fact particularly apalling: while Internet stations like ours are being told they must pay royalty fees that exceed their income, sometimes by several times over, FM stations - including those owned by media conglomerates like Clear Channel - pay nothing at all!
www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/030207/index.shtml
That math suggests that the royalty rate decision — for the performance alone, not even including composers' royalties! — is in the in the ballpark of 100% or more of total revenues. —KH
You can find links to an online petition at Radio Paradise, along with links explaining how to contact your congressional representatives by phone or email. Please let Congress know that you support internet radio and that you're sick and tired of the RIAA's extortion tactics.
