This latest round of trouble for independent music is brought about by an announcement by an obscure government board that royalty fees will be dramatically increased for Internet radio streamers.

An increase in royalty rates for any music streamed over the Internet will force many small to middle-sized radio stations off the air. Internet radio has happily paid millions of dollars in performance royalties since its inception in addition to the free promotion that we get to provide for artists by webcasting the music we love. But these increases are too high, too fast, and unfairly retroactive to January 2006. We just can't afford them and it's a bafflement to me why Internet radio is asked to pay so much higher increases than any other form of radio.

The Internet Radio Equality Act would set the royalty increase to the same rate paid by satellite radio. Please contact your senators today and ask for their support. A cooperative website called SaveNetRadio.org has been set up which makes this as easy as possible: SaveNetRadio Action Now page

If these rates are allowed to go into effect, I do not see how Internet radio can survive and there are lots of experts who agree including the conservative bastion of business reporting the Wall Street Journal (March 7, 2007) and NPR who has filed suit in the courts to try and halt the increases. You can browse most of these articles also at the coalition website SaveNetRadio.org

These are the key issues as I see them:

Diversity for Listeners ~ Internet radio is our only hope for true diversity and choice in radio. While the number of genres found on traditional broadcast radio continues to dwindle to a mere handful of choices, diversity is exploding on the Internet. Take a look at the array of genres available at Live365 ~ it's really astonishing: Genres List at Live365. I don't even know what "Acid House" or "Bachata" or "Quiet Storm" or "Zouk" music is. But I know that these fans will not find 24/7 broadcasts of their favorite music anywhere else but on Internet radio.

Exposure for Independent Musicians ~ The majority of artists in daily rotation on Acoustic Pie are independent musicians who don't even have a shot at significant airplay on traditional broadcast radio. Their only hope of finding their radio audience is on Internet radio.

Fees for All Types of Radio Should Be the Same ~ Traditional radio broadcasts only pay copyright fees to the composers. Internet radio is required to pay those same copyright fees as well as pay performance licensing fees to whomever holds those rights. It's just not right: It is the same service simply provided by different technology. Both types of radio play provide the same benefit to musicians by introducing their music to new fans and helping them hang on to their old ones. But I'll defer to my newfound friends at the Wall Street Journal (see Mar. 7) to elaborate on the injustice of this dichotomy in fee rates.

Thanks for reading, thanks for contacting your representatives and, as always, thanks for listening to Acoustic Pie!

~Kelley