An eleventh hour reprieve from the recording industry's royalty collection
agency has given new life to "smaller" Internet broadcasters facing an
October 20 deadline for the payment of the controversial CARP rate
structure.
SoundExchange, the RIAA agency
mandated to recoup royalty payments from Web broadcasts, granted the
last-minute reprieve to the those webcasters that qualified for the 'Small
Webcaster Amendments Act of 2002,' which narrowly missed a Senate vote late
last week.
SoundExchange posted a temporary payment
plan on its Web site Monday which sets the rate for eligible webcasters
at the $500 minimum annual fee proposed in HR 5469, the measure
that was put before Congress.
The reprieve means small Webcasters would now pay a flat rate of
$500 for every year they have been in business since 1998, or a maximum of
$2,500. The SoundExchange reprieve does not extend to larger commercial
webcasters like Yahoo!, America Online
or Microsoft's MSN Network.
Executive Director of SoundExchange John Simson said the reprieve would
remain in effect "until this Congress has had the opportunity to act on the
pending legislation."
Electronista | Internet radio stations earn royalty reprieve::
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SoundExchange offers temporary reprieve to small webcasters | Reclaim ::
is that small webcasters would be guaranteed no increase in royalty payments for Most small webcasters will find their royalties going up over 10 times
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"Given the unfortunate fact that a lone Senator apparently held up the small
webcasters' bill, we felt it appropriate to offer this proposal. We hope
that this unexpected development will be soon resolved by the Senate. From
the beginning, we have wanted to work with webcasters, and this temporary
payment policy is an another example of our commitment to the webcasting
industry," Simson said.
The RIAA/SoundExchange move comes after a flurry of activity at the
Congressional level to pass new laws that would have fixed the royalty rate
at a percentage of revenues but the Bill never reached the Senate floor for
a vote.
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Paul Maloney, who has been tracking the royalty payment issue for the RAIN newsletter, applauded the
SoundExchange reprieve, noting that it "allows for further negotiations for
a more reasonable deal that can benefit webcasters, labels, artists, and
listeners alike."
"In fact, it is very nearly what we had hoped for upon learning that the (HR
5469) bill would not pass the Senate in this session," Maloney said.
"It's not clear how long this temporary measure is to stay in effect, but
SoundExchange's site refers to legislation in "this Congress," which ends on
the last day of this year," Maloney added. "The SoundExchange board is made
up of representatives of both camps, so perhaps the measure truly represents
the desires of those who stand to collect the fees. That, in and of itself,
represents a great step forward," he said.
Separately, the U.S Office has ruled against a
motion from webcaster Live365.com seeking a stay on the decision by the
Library of Congress on royalties. The Live365 motion had argued that the
royalty fee structure was frustrating "the Congressional intent in creating
the compulsory license, and infringed upon the First Amendment rights of
smaller webcasters."
For extended coverage of the controversial royalty issue, see our CARP Special
Report.
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