An industry trade group called SoundExchange says the increased rates are fair and accuses half of all webcasters of not complying with laws on operating internet radio stations. SoundExchange also says it will allow small webcasters to pay under the existing structure until 2010. But webcasters, including National Public Radio, say that the increased fees are 300 to 1200 percent higher than they paid previously and that the decision will effectively put many small and independent webcasters out of business. Large webcasters such as Yahoo, Live365, and Pandora say that the increased rates would force them to pay 47% of their 2006 income. Webcasters also point out that traditional broadcast radio stations don't have to pay such fees, and even satellite radio stations have less expensive fees. Webcasters would have to make their first payment -retroactive to January 2006- on July 15, and went silent yesterday to inform their listeners of the issue and encourage them to contact Congress, which is sitting on a bill that would effectively nullify the Copyright Board's decision. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) introduced the bill, HR 2060, in April in response to a public outcry. Since then, he's had 97 Democrats and 25 Republicans cosponsor the bill. Santa Clarita's Congressman, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon isn't listed as a cosponsor, so I wanted to get our representative's take on the issue. Several people have emailed the eight term congressman about the royalty issue according to the public email logs on the Congress.org website, but I haven't seen a direct response from him about HR 2060 or the copyright board. So I got in touch with Lindsey Mask, Rep. McKeon's new press liasion about the issue. I asked her whether McKeon has taken a position on HR 2060, what he thought of the issues surrounding the royalty board and webcasters, and whether anyone from California's 25th district had contacted him about this issue. Mask told me that McKeon's office had received "consituent correspondence" on HR 2060, but wouldn't specify how many people have contacted McKeon's office or what the constituents said about the issue. Mask also told me that Rep. McKeon hasn't yet taken a position on HR 2060, saying that the bill would need to go through the hearing process first. Mask included a statement from Rep. McKeon that touched on more than just this particular webcasting fee issue:
"American courts have been examining the various property rights of copyright owners concurrently with the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials by website operators, Internet consumers, access providers, and other interested parties. I believe that consumers of copyrighted material should have the ability to make copies of such material for their own personal use, but not to sell or distribute. While I have not taken a position on H.R. 2060, I will continue to monitor this important issue." - Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (CA-25)According to US News & World Report, the response to yesterday's "Day of Silence" was widespread. Servers hosting the "Contact your Congressman" feature on SaveNetRadio.org -a website built to coordinate action on HR 2060- were nearly overwhelmed and had to switch to a higher speed network. And Rep. Inslee's office reported a "significant increase" in phone calls from constituents calling in support of HR 2060, according to Inslee's press secretary. I'll keep an eye on this issue and see if Rep. McKeon refines his position. On Internet Radio, Fees, and Rep. McKeon
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