englishMark Sullivan, PC World send us the following message:
Internet radio stations are mobilizing in the wake of a potentially costly new royalty fee structure approved earlier this week by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). The board decided Monday that commercial Internet radio stations, regardless of their size (!), will pay a new, higher flat fee to the record labels each time a song is played. The increase applies to songs played in 2007, and retroactively for 2006 (! - at a slightly lower rate) As it stands now, the rates will go into effect in about a month.
"The CRB's ill informed decision to increase royalty fees to this unjustifiable level will quite simply bankrupt most webcasters and destroy Internet radio," says the Net radio stations' newly formed coalition, SaveNetRadio.org. SaveNetRadio says the move will increase its member stations' rates between 300 percent and 1200 percent, depending on the station's size.
Stations Fear Fees Too Onerous.
"This will make our business financially unviable," says Tim Westergren, founder of the Internet radio station Pandora. Westergren estimates that his company will end up paying out about 60 percent of its revenues in royalty fees once the new rates kick in. Westergren says his company is funded by venture capital firms and has yet to reach profitability. He says that getting Pandora into the black wouldn't be easy even with the existing royalty fee structure. With the higher rates, he says, it might be impossible. The Royalty Board has no understanding of the Net radio business, Westergren says. "The ruling was a flat per-song rate, and it's set at a level that makes recouping that and building a business on it impossible."
E.O.: Personally I'm really concerned with the fact that the European gouverment sooner or later will act the same as the US.
HERE you can sign the petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save E - Radio.
dutch Eergisteren dook er een email van Tim Westergren, de oprichter van PANDORA, in mijn mailbox op waarin hij vraagt om de petitie campagne ‘om Pandora te redden’ te tekenen.
s er aan de hand? Pandora, het populairste Internet Radiostation in Amerika, dreigt failliet te gaan. De Copy Roalty Board in Washington heeft besloten om de af te dragen muziekrechten - met terugwerkende kracht, ingaande op 01/01/06 - te verdrievoudigen (!). Dat vindt Pandora onrechtvaardig en het brengt haar volgens Westergen in een niet concurrerende positie ten opzichte van bijvoorbeeld broadcast- en satelliet radio. Deze wetsverandering drijft internetstations in het land van Uncle Sam naar de rand van de financiële afgrond.
Persoonlijk hou ik mijn hart vast. Buiten Amerika hoeven de eigenaars van internetradiostations nog, let wel NOG geen rechten af te dragen. Sterker nog: onze juristerij krijgt het fenomeneen 'internet' nauwelijks verhapstukt. Maar wat gebeurt er als de Europese mediawet, in navolging van de US, deze anarchistische vorm van radio straks ook aan banden besluit te leggen? HIER kun je de petitie tekenen om de Amerikaanse internetradio te redden.
