July 15: The day the music dies?

Today is a Day of Silence on the Internet. Major players including Yahoo Music and Pandora (but curiously not the web-only-for-now Boise Community Radio) have taken their streams offline to protest rate hikes due to go into effect next month.

The Congressionally authorized Copyright Royalty Board has tripled the royalty fees that Internet radio webcasts must pay effective July 15, retroactive to January 2006. The new fees are higher than the revenue generated by many small webcasters, and they represent a cost increase of about 300% for the largest webcasters. For more info, see SaveNetRadio.org. Thanks to t reel for the tip on this.

Update Tuesday evening: Boise Community Radio apparently did join the protest, at least in part. See an email sent by station director Jeff Abrams in the comments below.

Comments

[Lizard Eater]

Thanks for posting this. I love Pandora. Or is it live for Pandora? Either way.

[Julie in Boise]

Yes, Pandora is super cool.

And I did get this email this afternoon from Boise Community Radio, which apparently joined the Day of Silence, at least in part, by not playing any music covered by the proposed rate hike. Note the requests for donations and for phone calls to our Congress critters:

Imagine trying to tune in to RadioBoise and instead find nothing but silence.

Today, you will get a taste of what lies ahead for us and other internet radio broadcasters. Together, we will protest a ruling that drastically
increases the royalties we must pay each time we stream a song. We will not play any music today that is covered by these fee increases
(RIAA/SoundExchange recordings).

What this new legislation means for Boise Community Radio is that we may
actually have to suspend our webcast, RadioBoise. On July 1, Radio Independence Day in Idaho, RadioBoise will celebrate its 2nd
anniversary.

If you've enjoyed this service over the last two years, please consider donating now at www.radioboise.org to help us offset anticipated
increased costs of making this broadcast available. Our goal is to raise
$100/day through July 15, the date these outrageous royalty fees will take
effect.

You can also help by calling your congressional representative. In March, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) rushed through a decision at
the urging of music industry lobbyists. Their ruling -- which increases fees by
up to 1,200 percent for online radio stations that stream songs.

The bipartisan "Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007" would reverse the CRB decision in favor of a balanced structure that supports
artists without putting webcasters out of business. Representatives Mike
Simpson and Bill Sali have the power to overturn this decision and create a
system that supports artists and webcasters alike.
Call and ask them to
support the "Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007":

Rep. Mike Simpson (208) 334-1953; (202) 225-5531
Rep. Bill Sali (208) 336-9831; (202) 225-66111

Thanks for your support,

Jeff Abrams
Executive Director
Boise Community Radio
Locally Grown Radio for Boise and Beyond