RSSInternet Radio Plays On, For Now
By Ed Oswald | Published July 16, 2007, 3:52 PM
Sunday's deadline for netcasters to begin paying royalties has come and gone without much fanfare, with many still broadcasting on Monday.
In early May, July 15 was set as the date when Internet radio stations were to pay for 2006 royalties and also agree to a new royalty structure that is much like that of satellite radio. The change was universally opposed by the industry that said it would effectively put the format out of business.
However, it now appears as if Net radio interests and SoundExchange, the royalty body, are back on track this week. Over the weekend, the group signaled a willingness to talk to public radio interests by signing a temporary accord with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting while talks continue there.
The first of these meetings is with the Digital Media Association, who will meet with SoundExchange on Tuesday. Expected to attend are representatives from RealNetworks, Pandora, Yahoo, MTV, AOL, and Live365.
SoundExchange says that it still expects Net radio broadcasters to honor their royalty commitments while talks continue, and has even offered smaller webcasters an option to pay capped royalty fees. So far, it appears as if Net radio operators are still making payments, according to public statements from the group's representatives.
Several issues still remain, most notably the $500 "per channel" administrative payment added to the royalty schedules. Some larger webcasters claimed this could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in the first year alone.
However, it now appears as if there may be an agreement to cap those fees at $50,000 per company a year.
In any case, agreements still need to be approved before they go into effect. "It should be noted that any offer by SoundExchange is not legally binding until it has been finalized with the groups representing the webcasters involved, approved by the SoundExchange Board, and then ratified by the CRB or through some other form of government action," attorney David Oxenford said in a web log post Saturday.
Oxenford represents several smaller webcasters in negotiation with SoundExchange, including Accuradio, Digitall Imported Radio, and others. Those negotiations are said to be in a more informal stage at the moment.
They're nothing but greedy.
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I think it's a major mistake for this to be in place anyways, there should be an alternative like allow a small portion of advertising block be available to sound exchange instead of these nutty charges. Overall this could kill the idea of streaming radio, and the listeners will not stand for losing the options. It could get ugly, look what happened to CBS with Jericho.. ALl the fans mass mailed nuts until CBS got the message. Perhaps a simular tactic should be used again, but in a more creative manor. Then again, i'm not convinced that Sound Exchange it's not in involved with the RIAA to pull more money for these artist.
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Ever notice that you do not hear advertising; when listening to commercial us radio stations on line? Blame the actor's unions and not the advertisers or the broadcasters.
Network greed is why you get dead air during those 2-3 hour time slots used by syndicated talk shows. Can't hear somebody on a local over the air station. You're sh!+ outta luck in many cases...
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