

With May 15th approaching, webcasters are worried about being driven out of business by the new rates recently reaffirmed by the Copyright Royalty Board that would go affect on that day. A site called SaveNetRadio was launched to allow people to sign a petition (lame) and contact their representatives in Congress (nice).

The latter approach may have worked. Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA, pictured to the right) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL, pictured below the fold) introduced a bill today called "The Internet Radio Equality Act," which would reverse the CRB's ruling. According to SaveNetRadio, here's how the bill would work:

"The Internet Radio Equality Act would vacate the CRB’sdecision and set a 2006-2010 royalty rate at the same level currentlypaid by satellite radio services (7.5% of revenue.) The bill wouldalso change the royalty rate-setting standard used in royaltyarbitrations, so that the standards applying to webcasters would alignwith the standard that applies to satellite radio royaltyarbitrations..." "The bill would also re-set the royalty rules fornoncommercial radio such as NPR stations that offer Internet radio music."

Jonathan Potter, executive director of DiMA sounded optimistic that the bill would go through before May 15th and save online radio from being destroyed by the CRB's earlier decision:

"This bill may be Internet radio’s last best hope. The Internet Radio Equality Act sets a new standard for setting royalty rates that will level the playing field for Internet radio, avoid unfair bankruptcies that eliminate royalties currently being paid to recording artists and record companies, and removes the unfair advantage enjoyed by our competitors in the satellite radio community... "We are hopeful that Congress will move forward quickly to enact this groundbreaking legislation – and offer a lifeline to the industry."

I hope so too. As much fun as it is to point fingers and accuse SoundExchange of trying to kill internet radio, nobody will be laughing about this on May 15th if the rates stand.