60-Day Reprieve For Internet Royalty Rate Hike 91
Chickan writes "The Copyright Royalty Board has officially posted its ruling on Internet royalty rates in the Federal Register. However, the organization has pushed back the due date for royalty payments to kick in from May 15 to July 15. The publication of this information also begins the official 30-day period for appeals. NPR is slated to file an appeal in this timeframe."
internet radio (Score:4, Informative)
Voice your unhappiness! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Obligatory Simpson's Reference (Score:3, Informative)
In other news, Congress continues to sluggishly review sluggishly review [loc.gov] H.R.2060: Internet Radio Equality Act. If you write a senator (or actually, house member) perhaps one should mention support for this.
While your writing, put in a bad word about this one [loc.gov]. Colleges don't need to be wasting time and money trying to stop software piracy on campuse. Oh, and maybe this one [loc.gov], too.
Re:You know what I'd like to see... (Score:3, Informative)
It's not just royalties. (Score:2, Informative)
Pandora [techdirt.com] is being forced to block non-US listeners.
From the article:
You have to wonder how much longer the RIAA will get away with its ignorance and greed.
Re:The retroactive part (Score:2, Informative)
The last time I checked, ex post facto laws were prohibited. It's a bit like the IRS retroactively regulating that you really owed an extra $2000 on your taxes for the past five years, even though at the time you didn't.
Re:Why should I lobby in favor of the RIAA's clien (Score:3, Informative)
The rates are so onerous that they threated to make Internet radio unprofitable, and therefore only an option to big companies and terrestrial stations (who don't pay the "performance royalty" for their over-the-air broadcasts, btw) who have other income sources to subsidize the losses they will inevitably suffer from their Internet broadcasts.
So these rates threaten to put out of business the same Internet radio stations who would be likely to play those independent artists you (and a lot of others) enjoy supporting, further entrenching the RIAA-controlled stations and giving listeners fewer choices.
Bill Goldsmith of RadioParadise [radioparadise.com] has a lot of material and links on his site detailing how the rates are applied and what they mean to independent, listener-supported, commercial-free stations like his.
Re:Why should I lobby in favor of the RIAA's clien (Score:3, Informative)
That's why I find all the complaining about the RIAA in these threads kinda silly: it'll make no difference if you listen to indie music only. It'll make no difference in the prices the stations play if they shift to entirely indie music. *Everything* is covered by SoundScan for US businesses (or companies doing business in the US).