Court rejects webcasters request for rate hike delay
Lawmakers have gotten involved, webcasters held a day of silence protest, and SoundExchange has agreed to reduce its fees (although that offer was rejected). But the big day is still just around the corner. On Sunday, the U.S. will levy new royalty rates on internet broadcasters. In some cases, those rates could be high enough to seriously threaten the existence of smaller stations and web sites.A coalition of webcasters had sought another delay in the implementation of the new rates until some sort of a solution could be found. But a federal appeals court ruled that the group had not met the standards necessary to grant a stay.
In other words, there's a very good chance that sites like Pandora, Last.fm, Yahoo! LAUNCHcast and others could go off the air next week until some sort of an agreement is reached with the music industry.
The Save Net Radio coalition is urging supporters to call members of Congress in support of the Internet Radio Equality Act. But we're rather curious to see if the standoff could lead to a backlash against the record labels. After all, much like traditional radio, internet broadcasts serve to promote new music and songs. If fewer people are exposed to new artists, will record sales take a hit?
The Save Net Radio coalition is urging supporters to call members of Congress in support of the Internet Radio Equality Act. But we're rather curious to see if the standoff could lead to a backlash against the record labels. After all, much like traditional radio, internet broadcasts serve to promote new music and songs. If fewer people are exposed to new artists, will record sales take a hit?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris Carey said 4:34PM on 7-12-2007
I guess its back to pirating music them, maybe they'd be happier if I found my music that way because I am not listening to radio anymore. I think that people who are lobbying for these rate hikes are shooting themselves in the foot. Maybe we should let them. I have already found a workaround. My Cable company has music channels and I have a Slingbox hooked up so if all goes to hell I'll still be listening to that at work. Maybe Pandora needs to get on cable ;)
Chris
http://www.noheat.com
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