Thanks to this it looks increasingly likely that my main avenue for finding new music is going to be killed off, or at the very least be compromised to the point of being practically worthless.
So where does everyone else go to find new music?
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Copyright Royalty Board rejects appeals from Internet radio broadcasters By Associated Press
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - Updated: 08:32 AM EST
LAS VEGAS - Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel
of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the
royalties they must pay to record companies and artists.
A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations,
small startup companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like Yahoo
Inc. and Time Warner Inc.â??s AOL, had objected to the new royalties set March 2,
saying they would force a drastic cutback in services that are now enjoyed by
some 50 million people.
In the latest ruling, the Copyright Royalty Board judges denied all motions for
rehearing and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the new
royalties will have to be collected.
However, they did grant leniency on one point, allowing the webcasters to
calculate fees by average listening hours, as they had been, as opposed to the
new system of charging a royalty each time every song is heard by an online
listener. That exemption counts for last year and this year. After that, the new
per-song, per-listener fee structure goes into effect.
Many webcasters say the sharply higher royalty fees will put them out of
business. Talk of the ruling dominated a one-day meeting of Internet radio
broadcasters being held in Las Vegas alongside the annual conference of the
National Association of Broadcasters, a group representing local radio and TV
stations.
N. Mark Lam, the CEO of Live365 Inc., a privately held company that aggregates
audio streams from thousands of radio stations and other small webcasters, said
that under the new royalty rules, "there is no industry."
