Internet Radio Legislation
Recently, legislation by the United States Congress has threatened the future of internet radio. On March 2, 2007, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board made a change in fees that an internet radio station is responsible for. It was agreed upon to implement an increase in the royalties paid to the performers of music and other media on internet radio broadcasts.
The new system, when implemented, will require a minimum fee of $500, with increasing money that is required for each performance of a song or other media form. The change in policy will be retroactive to 2006, and the fee for that year will be $0.0008 for every song’s performance. A performance, in the terms of radio broadcasting, refers to a single song being transmitted to one listener. Therefore, the fee for every performance is multiplied by the number of users listening to it.
The law is expected to effect on July 15, 2007. Industry analysts predict that it will raise the operating costs of internet radio stations significantly, with royalties fees along being $2.3 billion.
Learn more about the movement to prevent excessive royalty fees from shutting down free internet radio.