| « DDoS protection | The Virtue of Virtualization Part II » |
April 13th, 2007 [by Doug Alder]
The
The board ignored the arguments of the International Webcasting Association and other webcasters, and apparently simply endorsed the proposal of the RIAA-associated SoundExchange royalty organization, which represents the major and some indie labels.The new rates forcewebcasters to pay for each song streamed to each user, and increase over the next few years as follows:2006: $0.0008 to stream one song to one listener2007: $.00112008: $.00142009: $.00182010: $.0019Those fees will add up quickly for larger webcasters; the Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN) calculates that, assuming that the average station plays 16 songs per hour, sites would have to pay “about 1.28 cents” per listener per hour using the 2006 rate, and would owe this retroactively, in addition to licensing fees going forward. RAIN’s math indicates that the rate would render Internet radio unsustainable, or at the very least, more ad-laden than terrestrial radio — and that’s before the songwriters’ licenses are taken into account:
This penalty is very injurious to anyone that is operating on an amateur basis. In all likelihood their costs will far outstrip any revenue they may generate through ads. The only real solution for such parties is to move their operations to an offshore server. If you are thinking of moving it to Canada then these two articles by Michael Geist are an absolute must read. For example he points out that SoundClick.com lists 354,675 royalty free songs using creative commons licenses. Useful to know! From the looks of it, while it won’t be free to broadcast from Canada it will work out substantially cheaper than remaining in the US.Decisions like that of the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board show a need for technology visionaries to get involved in government. Decisions like this show that the people making them are not very clued in as to the new gestalt of communications, the world, and the Internet; what can’t be done easily somewhere will be done somewhere else outside the regulatory reach of the first place. Bureaucrats, insulated from reality by their years in public service and their interactions being mainly with politicians and corporate lobbyists are out of touch with the realities of new paradigms in communications. Add to this the problem of politicians who, with few exceptions, have no concept at all of the nature of technology, and specifically the Internet (as in Senator Ted Stevens’ infamous “”The Internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a truck. It’s a series of tubes,” remark last June) crating legislation they don’t understand the ramifications of, and you have situations like this happening. Every country needs more tech savvy and net aware people in public decision making positions. This is integral to the future economic health of those countries.Update April 16,2007: via Kurt Hanson’s blog RAIN (Radio and Internet Newsletter) we find that:
The Copyright Royalty Board, a three judge panel responsible for the March 2nd ruling that set webcast performance royalties at their new increased rate, has denied all parties’ motion for rehearing of the ruling.The Board claimed that the motions introduced no new evidence and were therefore legally insufficient.Webcast legal vet David Oxenford, speaking at the RAIN Summit this morning, said the board “denied all the motions for rehearing on procedural grounds.”The CRB did not offer any type of clarification or additional information surrounding the minimum $500 fee per channel imposed by the new ruling.Webcasters still hold out hope for negotiations with the record industry, action in the appellate court or legislative relief.
For an idea of the impact this is going to have on small US broadcasters you should read Bill Goldsmith’s post. Bill and his wife Rebecca are the founders of Radio Paradise, a popular and pioneering Internet radio station.
April 14th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
This is just one of the many reason why the US is at a point in its history where in the near future it will fall like the Roman Empire and become insignificant in the world order. It really is sad that so many bureaucats are so clueless or just done right in complete denial. I hope Canada does not follow the same path…
May 3rd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
The US Copyright Royalty Board has changed the date from May 15 to July 15. Details here: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070502-internet-radio-royalty-hike-delayed-last-chance-to-petition-congress.html