Internet radio providers such as RealNetworks and Yahoo have sent letters to politicians to raise awareness of a troubling provision in the Copyright Royalty Boards's (CRB) new fees for Internet radio broadcasters that demands a minimum of $500 per "channel" every year to cover the administrative costs of SoundExchange. In the letter, the Internet radio providers said this would force them to give SoundExchange billions of dollars in addition to significantly higher royalty rates.
RealNetworks, for example, offers over 400,000 channels through its Rhapsody music service and so could be forced to pay an annual fee of $200 million. The letter explains how SoundExchange does not necessarily plan to distribute these administrative fees to artists, and has provided no explanation of how the fees are used.
The letter also points out that the fee was capped at $2,500 per webcaster until 2005, but the new rules have no cap at all. When Ars Technica spoke to Internet radio provider Live365 a month ago, it discovered that Live365 handles all of its station administration and licensing itself and merely submits reports to SoundExchange "as a single service." So why does SoundExchange need $500 per channel for administration when licensing and administrative services are already largely handled by Internet radio providers?
Source:
Ars Technica
The letter also points out that the fee was capped at $2,500 per webcaster until 2005, but the new rules have no cap at all. When Ars Technica spoke to Internet radio provider Live365 a month ago, it discovered that Live365 handles all of its station administration and licensing itself and merely submits reports to SoundExchange "as a single service." So why does SoundExchange need $500 per channel for administration when licensing and administrative services are already largely handled by Internet radio providers?
Source:
Ars Technica
