Save Internet Radio! — Encourage the U.S. Copyright Office to reject the CARP recommendations

“America’s fledgling Internet radio industry could be effectively killed this summer based on the Librarian of Congress’s acceptance of most of the the recommendations Write your elected Representatives in Washington! Click hereof its recent Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (”CARP”) concerning Internet radio royalty rates.

Congress passed a law in October, 1998, called the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) which established that webcasters must pay royalties to record labels for the music they play. However, the CARP’s recommended royalty rates are currently more than 100% of most Webcasters’ gross revenues!



If the Librarian of Congress’s decision is not vacated by Congress or the courts and if the RIAA doesn’t offer a compromise "voluntary" license to smaller webcasters, most observers believe that the decision will effectively kill Internet radio, as the retroactively-owed fees would bankrupt all but the very largest Internet-only webcasters (and would probably trigger the shutdown of most broadcast stations’ Web simulcasts, including almost all the educational and community stations ).



Read more background here …”

Save Internet Radio!