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Webcasters to plead royalty case in Senate hearing today

24 October 2007 10:33 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 2 comments

The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing today where webcasters plan to make a case for the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would legislate more reasonable royalty rates than were approved earlier this year by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board.

According to webcasters, negotiations with SoundExchange, the music label backed royalty collection agency, have stalled. "We made a royalty rate proposal on Aug. 23, and we have not heard a reply back," said Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital Media Association, which is negotiating on behalf of a group of 27 large Internet radio providers.

Richard Ades, a spokesman for SoundExchange, said "We're moving as fast as we can considering there are so many parties involved."

The webcasters' concerns started at the beginning of March when the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) accepted a SoundExchange plan for internet radio royalties without a single change. The rates, which would force webcasters to pay significantly higher royalties than are currently mandated for either terrestrial or satellite radio, seem to have been calculated in anticipation of some kind of adjustment by the CRB, taking into account the actual financial situation of webcasters.

If SoundExchange has yet to determine the financial realities of webcasting, what did the CRB base their decision on?

Source: Washington Post

Permalink to this article

RIAA argues for basing songwriter royalties on revenue (4 March 2008)

Labels tell artists 'we gave your money to our lawyers' (2 March 2008)

Yahoo threatens to drop Internet radio because of royalties (29 November 2007)

Webcaster testifies about royalties on Capitol Hill (26 October 2007)

SoundExchange reaches deal with large webcasters (25 August 2007)

Temporary internet radio royalty agreement reached (13 July 2007)

SoundExchange offers $2,500 limit on multi-stream stations (8 July 2007)

Internet radio providers criticize SoundExchange's excessive administrative fees (9 June 2007)

Webcasters want appeals court to delay new royalty rates (2 June 2007)

Internet radio stations snub SoundExchange offer (23 May 2007)

SoundExchange offers smaller webcasters lower royalty rates (22 May 2007)

US Copyright Royalty Board rubber stamps recording industry proposed rates (5 March 2007)

Webcasters and recording industry agreed over royalty rates (12 February 2004)

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Discuss this article!
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 24 October 2007 23:48
It amazes me what some cases are let to be heard in front of a judge. [ + quote]
pryme_H (Senior Member) 25 October 2007 8:41
...whatever floats their boat! [ + quote]