NPR vs. the RIAA

Last week, The Copyright Royalty Board substantially raised fees for Internet Radio.  Today, National Public Radio has announced that they will be filing a petition for reconsideration with the Copyright Royalty Board, asking that online royalties be returned to their previous rates.  VP Andi Sporkin says of the recent increases in rates by the CRB:

This is a stunning, damaging decision for public radio and its commitment to music discovery and education, which has been part of our tradition for more than half a century.

We are being required to pay an internet royalty fee that is vastly more expensive than what we pay for over-the-air use of music, although for a fraction of the over-the-air audience.

I applaud NPR's action and hope others will join in the fight.  via the Chicago Tribune

Posted on: Mar 13, 2007

Posted by: plamere

Category: music

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Comments:

This stuff about online broadcaster royalties is bad news of course, for everyone. I recently read that MTV doesn't even pay royalties on the videos they play. If the royalty rates were reasonable that would be one thing...if they could find a formula that didn't overwhelm webcasters that would have been acceptable, but the royalties they want are extreme, unfair, and help destroy what's left of the music "business". One guy recently posted on Digg that he worked at a terrestrial radio station that had to pay $400/song played, simply outrageous! No wonder there's so damn many commercials...and no wonder I no longer listen to radio anymore!!! Anyways, the RIAA should focus on eliminating middlemen and lowering CD prices...and they better enjoy their lawsuits while they can, because lots of file-sharers are making the switch to encrypted file-sharing solutions like GigaTribe, which keep people out of the radar ( http://www.gigatribe.com ).

Posted by Jerry on March 14, 2007 at 11:57 AM EDT #

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