The Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007 is a companion to the bill introduced in the House last month by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Don Manzullo (R-Ill.).
In their statement, the Senators said the CRB decision would mean large webcasters could end up paying between 40% and 70% of their total revenues in fees, while small webcasters might pay up to 1,200% of their revenues.
In addition to undoing the $500 per channel minimum royalty fee for commercial webcasters set by the CRB, the bill would create special royalty rules for the webcasting arms of non-commercial broadcasters like National Public Radio and college radio.
"Keeping Internet radio alive is part of a broader issue that is important to me — keeping the e-commerce engine running by preventing discrimination against it," Wyden said.
"Congress has two months to prevent the devastation of Internet radio," said Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital Media Association, which represents large webcasters.
"This bill is about leveling the playing field to allow a growing, innovative industry to survive."
Related Links:
http://wyden.senate.gov/media/2007/Print/print_05102007_Internet_Radio.htm
http://tinyurl.com/2bfw9n (DMW previous coverage)
I serve on the board of a non-profit religious media group that was formed to assist churches in using media to expand the audience that hears the spiritual views they exist to promote.
We have created an Internet presence, as this avenue cannot be excluded if you understand distribution in today’s technology savvy world.
While sermons and spoken word are popular, music is a major component of a typical worship service. It challenges a church to prepare live content on the Internet and then worry about each song it performs.
Federal law exempts a church from worrying about the performance of music during a worship service, that is to say a license is not required for the congregation to sing a song during the church service (unlike a pop song performed at a night club where someone is to pay the performance license).
But if this exemption is not extended to their Internet distribution of a worship service, it will be an undue burden on churches who depend on volunteers to get the content to the Internet. Editing the content often results in it never getting out the door.
Then as we consider music that might be used to fill the time between spoken word programs, we find that much of the major music performers represented by SoundExchange are inappropriate for our conservative, sacred broadcasts. The result of our music selection process tends to result in music produced by members within our church community. And while some of the music might be smaller artists getting to be known nationally, many of those we represent will never receive anything from SoundExchange distributions. They are more grateful that we select their music and let it be heard by the target audience it was produced for. While our purchase of one of their CDs exceeds royalties from SoundExchange, they would give us the CD in order to be heard by our audience.
I am reminded of a story my father told me when he was young. The neighborhood he moved to was taken over by gangs that promised business owners on the streets “protection” if they paid fees to the gang. Today the same element exists, but it has become strong and it lobbies the lawmakers to ensure that what they do doesn’t break the law.