For all those people who still buy CD’s and DVD’s … thank you for supporting these conglomerates and giving them enough money and power to kill internet radio (can you read the sarcasm in this?)
chycho
Internet radio dealt severe blow as Copyright Board rejects appeal
arstechnica.com/news.ars/p...appeal.html
A panel of judges at the Copyright Royalty Board has denied a request from the NPR and a number of other webcasters to reconsider a March ruling that would force Internet radio services to pay crippling royalties. The panel's ruling reaffirmed the original CRB decision in every respect, with the exception of how the royalties will be calculated. Instead of charging a royalty for each time a song is heard by a listener online, Internet broadcasters will be able pay royalties based on average listening hours through the end of 2008.
Related Stories
The ruling is a huge blow to online broadcasters, and the new royalty structure could knock a large number of them off the 'Net entirely. Under the previous setup, radio stations would have to pay an annual fee plus 12 percent of their profits to the music industry's royalty collection organization, SoundExchange. It was a good setup for the webcasters, most of whom are either nonprofits or very small organizations.
National Public Radio spearheaded the appeal, arguing that the CRB's decision was an "abuse of discretion" and saying that the judges did not consider the ramifications of a new royalty structure. Under the new royalty schedule, NPR will see its costs skyrocket.
The judges were unmoved by the webcasters' arguments. "None of the moving parties have made a sufficient showing of new evidence or clear error or manifest injustice that would warrant rehearing," wrote the CRB in its decision. "To the contrary... most of the parties' arguments in support of a rehearing or reconsideration merely restate arguments that were made or evidence that was presented during the proceeding."
SoundExchange is jubilant over the ruling. Executive Director John Simson called the CRB's ruling a victory for performing artists and record labels. "Our artists and labels look forward to working with the Internet radio industry—large and small, commercial and noncommercial—so that together we can ensure it succeeds as a place where great music is available to music lovers of all genres," said Simson in a statement.
Noble words, but after today's ruling—which will take effect on May 15 unless the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agrees to hear an appeal—there probably won't be much of an Internet radio industry left for SoundExchange to work with.
In a case of unfortunate timing, the SaveNetRadio coalition today launched a campaign to save Internet radio. Given the CRB's decision, it may be too little, too late.
chycho
Internet radio dealt severe blow as Copyright Board rejects appeal
arstechnica.com/news.ars/p...appeal.html
A panel of judges at the Copyright Royalty Board has denied a request from the NPR and a number of other webcasters to reconsider a March ruling that would force Internet radio services to pay crippling royalties. The panel's ruling reaffirmed the original CRB decision in every respect, with the exception of how the royalties will be calculated. Instead of charging a royalty for each time a song is heard by a listener online, Internet broadcasters will be able pay royalties based on average listening hours through the end of 2008.
Related Stories
The ruling is a huge blow to online broadcasters, and the new royalty structure could knock a large number of them off the 'Net entirely. Under the previous setup, radio stations would have to pay an annual fee plus 12 percent of their profits to the music industry's royalty collection organization, SoundExchange. It was a good setup for the webcasters, most of whom are either nonprofits or very small organizations.
National Public Radio spearheaded the appeal, arguing that the CRB's decision was an "abuse of discretion" and saying that the judges did not consider the ramifications of a new royalty structure. Under the new royalty schedule, NPR will see its costs skyrocket.
The judges were unmoved by the webcasters' arguments. "None of the moving parties have made a sufficient showing of new evidence or clear error or manifest injustice that would warrant rehearing," wrote the CRB in its decision. "To the contrary... most of the parties' arguments in support of a rehearing or reconsideration merely restate arguments that were made or evidence that was presented during the proceeding."
SoundExchange is jubilant over the ruling. Executive Director John Simson called the CRB's ruling a victory for performing artists and record labels. "Our artists and labels look forward to working with the Internet radio industry—large and small, commercial and noncommercial—so that together we can ensure it succeeds as a place where great music is available to music lovers of all genres," said Simson in a statement.
Noble words, but after today's ruling—which will take effect on May 15 unless the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agrees to hear an appeal—there probably won't be much of an Internet radio industry left for SoundExchange to work with.
In a case of unfortunate timing, the SaveNetRadio coalition today launched a campaign to save Internet radio. Given the CRB's decision, it may be too little, too late.
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Canada
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Re: The Death of Internet Radio, a Serious Setback for Artists
Wed, April 18, 2007 - 6:51 PMApologies for the sarcasm :-) … it was a conversation from another post that carried over to this one … I sort of felt very sad when I read this news :-( -
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Re: The Death of Internet Radio, a Serious Setback for Artists
Wed, April 18, 2007 - 6:57 PM
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Re: The Death of Internet Radio, a Serious Setback for Artists
Fri, April 20, 2007 - 12:32 AMNot to distract from a serious situation, but I can't really see how the thousands I spend buying CD's from independent labels and artists is selling my soul to the devil. In fact I think the independents will be the ones to save us from the internet radio mess, no thanks to you. Pehaps you could keep this tribe on topic and give up with the little digs ie stop being such a jerk. -
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Re: The Death of Internet Radio, a Serious Setback for Artists
Fri, April 20, 2007 - 8:28 AMI guess you skipped over my apology in my second post so I’ll just say it again “Apologies for the sarcasm”
Happy 420 by the way … just in case you are interested here is my blog about this beautiful day
www.chycho.com/
and again apologies … people have the right to spend their money any way they want and to support who ever they want
Enjoy
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Re: The Death of Internet Radio, a Serious Setback for Artists
Sat, April 21, 2007 - 5:41 PMInternet Radio May Stream North to Canada
www.michaelgeist.ca/content/...1864/135/
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the legal rules surrounding Internet radio. Internet radio consists of several types of "stations" including conventional radio stations that simulcast their signal on the Internet, community and college radio stations that use the Internet to extend their signals from small communities to the entire world, and Internet-only stations that broadcast exclusively online. The Internet-only services are particularly intriguing as they include niche webcasters focused on content not found on mainstream AM/FM stations as well as customizable services such as Pandora and Last.fm, which help users identify new music personalized to their tastes.
Despite their popularity, there is growing fear that a recent U.S. royalty decision could effectively shut down thousands of webcasting services. The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board recently established a new royalty scheme that dramatically increases the fees that webcasters will be required to pay to stream music online.
Given the concern about the future viability of Internet radio in the U.S., there has been mounting speculation that some webcasters may consider setting up shop in Canada, where the U.S. rates do not apply. For example, Mercora, a service that allows individuals to launch their own webcasts, has established a Canadian site that falls outside U.S. regulatory and royalty rules.
Webcasters considering a move to Canada will find that the legal framework for Internet radio trades costs for complexity. There are two main areas of concern from a Canadian perspective - broadcast regulation and copyright fees.
Those expecting strict broadcast regulation from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will be pleasantly surprised to learn that webcasters operate outside of conventional broadcast regulation in Canada. The 1999 CRTC New Media Decision exempts webcasters, thereby relieving them of the need to obtain licenses or meet Canadian content requirements.
The copyright concerns associated with webcasting are far more challenging. While there are options that allow non-commercial webcasters to stream music without paying significant royalties - Soundclick lists more than 350,000 songs that are freely available under Creative Commons licenses - streaming commercial music will require royalty and license payments.
The Canadian fee structure is still under development with webcasters likely to face several charges. Next week, the Copyright Board of Canada begins hearings on Tariff 22, a tariff proposed by SOCAN to cover the performance of music online. The tariff actually dates back to 1995, when SOCAN endeavoured to hold Internet service providers accountable for the music available on their networks. The ISPs challenged the tariff, leading to nine years of litigation that culminated with a Supreme Court of Canada decision that exempted Internet intermediaries from liability.
Undeterred by the decision, SOCAN restructured the tariff by identifying an extensive list of online uses of music, including on-demand streaming, webcasting, music streaming on gaming sites, and other services that potentially include podcasting. SOCAN has asked the Copyright Board to grant a tariff that features a minimum monthly fee of $200 and establishes a royalty rate that runs as high as 16.7 percent of gross revenues (or gross operating expenses if those are higher) for on-demand streaming. The webcast rates vary from three to nine percent of gross revenues, depending on the type of webcaster. Several groups are challenging the SOCAN tariff request and a final decision from the Copyright Board is not expected for months.
In addition to the Tariff 22 royalties, there are at least two other potential licenses. The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA) licenses the music reproduction right. CMRRA proposed a webcasting tariff in 2005 that sought five percent of gross operating revenue (or expenses if greater) with a minimum monthly payment of $200. CMRRA voluntarily withdrew its tariff application last year and is now negotiating individual licenses for Internet-only radio stations.
The Audio-Visual Licensing Agency (AVLA), which licenses the duplication of master sound recordings, has also created a license for webcasters that copy music onto Canadian servers for webcasting to Canadians. The agreement establishes transmission and subscriber fees as well as sets limits on the number of songs that can be webcast for any individual artists (no more than four in a three hour period) and prescribes the quality of the transmission (no greater than 96 KPBS).
The net effect of these tariffs and licenses is that webcasting in Canada can get expensive, particularly for non-commercial and niche webcasters. By wisely focusing on a percentage of revenue model rather than the U.S. per-stream approach, the Canadian framework may enable webcasters to get off the ground, yet a streamlined system for streaming will be needed before Canada develops into a genuine Internet radio haven.
