Rich Fiscus
24 Oct 2007 10:33
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