AfterDawn: Tech news

Librarian sets the final webcasting rates

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 21 Jun 2002 2:58 User comments (1)

Librarian of Congress, James Billington, has set the new webcasting royalty rates and unfortunately it seems that the new webcasting rates are going to kill majority of independent web radio stations even that the rates were cut by half from those originally proposed by CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel).
Webcasters were hoping that LoC would have changed the royalty rates from flat fees to revenue percentage, which would have been more reasonable for small webcasters who now face a situation where their revenue is smaller than the royalty rates. New rates are set to $0.07 per performance per listener and those rates are applied retroactively from October, 1998 and first payments are due 20th of October, 2002. Same rates apply for Internet-only broadcasting and re-broadcasting of "real" radio stations. Various web broadcasters have already announced that they will shut down soon or have already shut down their broadcasts because of the rates.

U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Rick Boucher are seeking a legal action to change the outcome of the royalty fiasco where Librarian was forced to use "willing-buyer/willing-seller" method to determine the correct royalty rate without a possibility to consider that the current webcasting marketplace is already extremely flawed. Reps said in their joint press release: "We will be considering legislation to change the standard from "willing-buyer/willing-seller" for Internet radio to the traditional fair market formula used by other CARPs. In addition, we want to ensure that all future Carps must take into consideration small business concerns and allow effective participation of small, niche and noncommercial entities. We believe these standards will allow for the development of a viable Internet radio industry and ensure that artists, writers, and record labels are fairly compensated."



In a very unsurprising news, RIAA, has said to consider a possibility to appeal the decision. Obviously recording industry was mildly disappointed by the fact that the original CARP's proposed rates were cut by 50 per cent which would have had even move devastating effect to webcasters.

Both parties can still appeal the decision and analysts expect both sides to do so.

More information:
Radio And Internet Newsletter
Webcasting rates

Previous Next  

1 user comment

122.6.2002 00:10

Solution? It takes 4 'AA' penlight cells. It has a couple of rotary dials, a volume control, a few presets, and a front-firing speaker. It's called an 'FM Radio'. No fees. Free. Simple. -- K.A. --

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive