Washington - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved the Webcaster Settlement Act, which passed in the House over the weekend and was introduced to allow webcasters to continue to negotiate new royalty agreements with copyright owners while Congress is busy with the elections. "This legislation will enable the Digital Media Association (DiMA) and our member companies, and all Internet radio services, to continue negotiating royalty rates with SoundExchange for the years 2006-2015. We are very hopeful of reaching agreement soon, and thereby creating long-term stability that will re-energize the Internet radio business," said DiMA executive director Jonathan Potter.

Many webcasters have said that the royalty rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board are so high that they will be forced offline.

The bill will now be sent to President Bush.

Last week, the Digital Media Association, along with the National Music Publishers Association, Recording Industry Association of America and others submitted a draft proposal on mechanical royalty rates for subscription and ad-supported services to the Copyright Royalty Board.

Related Links:
http://www.senate.gov

http://snipurl.com/3z75y (DMW previous coverage)