Internet radios stations plan day of silence

American webcasters protest royalty rates

22 June 2007 8:41 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Thousands of US webcasters will turn off the music and go silent on Tuesday June 26 to draw attention to an impending royalty rate increase that, if implemented claim would lead to the virtual shutdown of America's internet radio industry.

The day of silence is planned to alert listeners as to what they could expect after July 15th, the day on which 17 months' worth of retroactive royalty payments are due to the SoundExchange collection organization, following a recent Copyright Royalty Board decision.

"The arbitrary and drastic rate increases set by the Copyright Royalty Board on March 2nd threaten the very livelihood of thousands of webcasters and their millions of listeners throughout the country", said Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio coalition.

"The campaign to save Internet radio - a genuine grassroots movement comprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists and independent labels, and Net radio listeners - has quickly brought this issue to the national forefront and the halls of Congress, but there is still more to be done before the approaching deadline of July 15th."

"On Tuesday, thousands of webcasters will call on their millions of listeners to join the fight to save internet radio and contact their Congressional representatives to ask for their support of the Internet Radio Equality Act."

Some stations are planning to shut down altogther for the day, while others will not brooadcast any music - just long periods of silence with some announcements on the issue.

Confirmed participants include Yahoo, Rhapsody, MTV Online and Live365 stations.

Full tags

Audio, Radios, Internet radios