Re: Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters

  • From: Bruce Toews <DogRiver@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:11:12 -0500 (CDT)

They can't. It's an American law, only Americans are going to influence congresspeople.


Bruce

--
Bruce Toews
Skype ID: o.canada
E-mail and MSN/Windows Messenger: DogRiver@xxxxxxxx
LiveJournal: http://brucetola.livejournal.com
Radio Show and Podcast: http://www.totw.net
Web Site (including info on my weekly commentaries): http://www.ogts.net
Info on the Best TV Show of All Time: http://www.cornergas.com

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007, arlene wrote:

Hey I did try to sign it but it's for US  listeners only! where can Canadians 
go to do this?
 ----- Original Message -----
 From: Sarah
 To: winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 11:36 AM
 Subject: Re: Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters


 Not really. I just signed a petition and sent some lletters to my local 
congress poeple.  Go to http://www.savenetradio.org for more info.



 ----- Original Message -----
 From: Ron Canazzi
 To: winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 11:58 AM
 Subject: Re: Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters


 And this means the effective end of independent Internet Radio.

 Within 2 years, Internet broadcasting will be like cable TV: Five people
 determining what ye shall hear and what ye shall see.


 ----- Original Message -----
 From: "djc" <djc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 To: <winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 11:46 AM
 Subject: Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters


 Judges Reject Appeals From Webcasters
 Sites Can Tally Fees Per Listening Hours
 POSTED: 6:59 pm PDT April 16, 2007
 UPDATED: 6:59 pm PDT April 16, 2007
 LAS VEGAS  --
 Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of
 copyright
 judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the royalties
 they must
 pay to record companies and artists.
 A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations,
 small
 startup companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like Yahoo
 Inc. and
 Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, had objected to the new royalties set March 2,
 saying they
 would force a drastic cutback in services that are now enjoyed by some 50
 million
 people.
 In the latest ruling, the Copyright Royalty Board judges denied all motions
 for rehearing
 and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the new royalties
 will have
 to be collected.
 However, they did grant leniency on one point, allowing the webcasters to
 calculate
 fees by average listening hours, as they had been, as opposed to the new
 system of
 charging a royalty each time every song is heard by an online listener.
 That exemption
 counts for last year and this year. After that, the new per-song,
 per-listener fee
 structure goes into effect.
 Many webcasters say the sharply higher royalty fees will put them out of
 business.
 Talk of the ruling dominated a one-day meeting of Internet radio
 broadcasters being
 held in Las Vegas alongside the annual conference of the National
 Association of
 Broadcasters, a group representing local radio and TV stations.
 N. Mark Lam, the CEO of Live365 Inc., a privately held company that
 aggregates audio
 streams from thousands of radio stations and other small webcasters, said
 that under
 the new royalty rules, "there is no industry."
 Lam, who joined the venture capital-backed company about two years ago,
 said Live365
 just barely broke even last year and had about 4.5 million unique listeners
 every
 month.
 Also on Monday, several Internet radio broadcasters announced a campaign to
 raise
 awareness of the issue and encourage listeners to write to their
 representatives
 in Congress.
 Small broadcasters have received relief from Congress in the past,
 benefiting from
 a law passed five years ago that gave them a break on royalty rates. The
 legislation
 allowed them to pay about 12 percent of their revenues instead of having to
 calculate
 per-song, per-hour rates like larger companies had to.
 David Oxenford, a lawyer representing several webcasters, said the next
 step was
 likely an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
 Circuit,
 but he noted that process could take at least a year. Meanwhile, he said,
 the prospects
 of successfully getting a court to block the decision of the royalty board
 judges
 is slim.
 SoundExchange, a nonprofit group that collects the online royalties from
 webcasters
 and distributes them to record labels and artists, hailed the ruling in a
 statement
 and said it looked forward to working with Internet radio companies in
 order to ensure
 that the industry succeeds.
 Jonathan Potter, the head of the Digital Media Association, which
 represents several
 large webcasters including Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN network,
 said his
 group was not currently in talks with SoundExchange but may be soon. He
 said his
 group and other webcasters would be turning to Congress, where he said he
 sees "a
 lot of legislative support."
 The royalties in question only cover digital transmissions of music, and
 don't apply
 to terrestrial radio stations, as traditional radio play is seen as a
 benefit for
 record labels by promoting sales of recorded music. Both digital
 broadcasters and
 regular radio stations pay a separate royalty to the publishers and
 composers of
 music.


      djc's Jukebox: http://paulmerrell.net:9212 or
 http://paulmerrell.net:9660 Saturday Evenings 9 to midnight Eastern.

      My Journal http://livejournal.com/users/djc1

      email Or Msn: djc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

      I C Q Number Is: 4781694



 To post a message to the list, send it to winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  To unsubscribe from this mailing list, please send a message to:
 winamp4theblind-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the
 subject line.
  Archives located at:
 //www.freelists.org/archives/winamp4theblind>
  If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
 the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list directly.
 Instead, please contact
 the list owners at winamp4theblind-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 To post a message to the list, send it to winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  To unsubscribe from this mailing list, please send a message to:
 winamp4theblind-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject 
line.
  Archives located at:
 //www.freelists.org/archives/winamp4theblind>
  If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
 the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list directly. Instead, 
please contact
 the list owners at winamp4theblind-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 No virus found in this incoming message.
 Checked by AVG Free Edition.
 Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.5.1/765 - Release Date: 4/17/2007 5:20 
PM

To post a message to the list, send it to winamp4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, please send a message to:
winamp4theblind-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject 
line.
Archives located at:
//www.freelists.org/archives/winamp4theblind>
If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list directly. Instead, 
please contact
the list owners at winamp4theblind-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Other related posts: