What is the Web Radio Day of Silence?
June 26, 2007 is being observed as a Web Radio Day of Silence.What's happening with Web radio?
According to Wired Magazine, it is a protest against possible royalty fees being discussed in Congress:"Internet radio stations will broadcast no music tomorrow (June 26) in observance of the rescheduled "Day of Silence" organized by RAIN's Kurt Hanson in protest of the new royalty rates that would cripple those Internet radio stations that it does not destroy by charging royalty fees that would be greater or equal to revenue for most webcasters.
Barring Congressional intervention or the success of one of the many appeals of the Copyright Royalty Board's decision, Internet radio will die on July 15th, when payments under the new scheme are due, though SoundExchange recently back-pedaled a bit by exempting small webcasters until 2010."
And more from Pandora, one of my favorite Web radio station (find out more about Pandora):
"Ignoring all rationality and responding only to the lobbying of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs. Pandora's fees will triple, and are retroactive for eighteen months! Left unchanged by Congress, every day will be like today as internet radio sites start shutting down and the music dies.
A bill called the "Internet Radio Equality Act" has already been introduced in both the Senate (S. 1353) and House of Representatives (H.R. 2060) to fix the problem and save Internet radio--and Pandora--from obliteration."
How will this affect Web radio if passed?
Web radio stations will have to pay so much money to play music that they in turn will have to start charging the listeners - that's you and me - fees in order to even tune in.What can we do to save Web radio?
There are two things that we can do right now to save our favorite Web radio stations.- Visit SaveNetRadio and find out more about what's going on and how you can get involved.
- Contact your representative in Congress and express how you feel about this proposed bill. Here's some help with that - How to Contact the United States Government on the Web.
