Washington - The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the Webcaster Settlement Act on Saturday, which would allow webcasters and copyright holders to continue to negotiate royalty payments for streaming music online after Congress suspends its routine business after this week for the elections. A Senate vote on the measure is expected today or yet this week.

Webcasters have been pressing for the chance to renegotiate a reduction of the royalty rates proffered by the Copyright Royalty Board, which many webcasters have said are so high they will be forced offline.

According to a CNET article, the bill's passage came after Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) met with representatives of the traditional radio industry trade group the National Association of Broadcasters and addressed some of their concerns.

A concession was made to extend the deadline for SoundExchange to negotiate new terms from Dec. 15 to Feb. 15.

Also key to its passage were lobbying efforts by National Public Radio (NPR) and Tim Westergren, founder and CEO of Web radio service Pandora, according to CNET.

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10053014-93.html

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/house-of-repres.html