Andre Yoskowitz
29 Sep 2008 22:27
The House of Representatives has unanimously passed the bill that will greenlight an agreement between Internet Radio companies and SoundExchange, the nonprofit organization that collects royalties for the record labels and the RIAA.
In March 2007 the federal Copyright Royalty Board negotiated new royalty rates for digital broadcasters that would have increased the rates to levels where the Internet Radio companies could no longer stay in business. Recently however, before the new rates come into effect, the two sides have been negotiating a deal and the deal seems imminent. There is however, one problem, and that is the fact that Congress is preparing to adjourn until the elections and "because Internet radio companies operate under a government license, any final agreement needs congressional authorization."
The new bill that passed means the sides can continue negotiatons until February 15th of next year and makes sure that any deal agreed upon while Congress is in recess is legally binding.
Earlier this week, the most popular of Internet Radio sites, Pandora made a call for help asking to get the bill passed through and it seems to have worked. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora said that if the rates go up then over $17 million of Pandora's estimated $25 million revenue will go to paying off royalties.