Cantell TV : Internet radios forced to pay royalties that might take them out of businessby Corina Ciubotaru

These are not easy times for Internet radios. After long trials, calling the Congress for help and many other hardships, it seems that SoundExchange has finally agreed to lower the fee that webcasters have to pay from $500 per channel to $50,000 per year for all channels. SoundExchange is a former RIAA organism that is responsible for collecting royalties from web radios and then distributing them to record labels. It originally raised the fees from 12% of webcasters’ annual profit plus another annual sum, to $500 for each channel the radio owned plus a fixed-fee for each time a listener hears a song. Not to mention that it would be applied retroactively also for 2006. If applied, this measure could mean the death of all online radio stations, as their profits wouldn’t allow them to pay this much. Fortunately, because of threats to get the Congress involved and increasing public disapproval, SoundExchange has agreed to lower the sum but at a price: webcasters must agree to try to prevent listeners from “streamripping”, the short name for recording music from Internet radios. Only one problem here: even though this practice could be reduced by employing a DRM system, music recording in this fashion isn’t necessarily illegal. It resembles recording a film from TV using TiVo or a VCR, so it doesn’t fall under the laws of copyright. Some of the radio stations held a “Day of silence” on June 26th to protest against these new rules they consider unfair as terrestrial radios, which obtain much higher profits, don’t have to pay mechanical licenses.

related story: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/05/listeningpost_0514

by Corina Ciubotaru for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.