Friday, June 19, 2009

Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 Passes

The Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 has been passed by both the U.S.House & U.S.Senate, & is now awaiting Pres. Obama's signature. (link:Webcaster Settlement Act passes
When it is signed into law, there will be an additional 30 days for any webcaster groups who have Not reached agreement with Sound Exchange for a royalty structure (through either 2010, or it can be extended as far as 2015) for the Copyright (or Performance) Royalties. The groups with no specific agreements include: interactive streamers (Pandora), pure Webcasters (no over-the-air component), aggregaters (Live365, representing the vast majority of it's customers, who have Personal Webcaster packages.), religious broadcasters (those not privy to the agreement between SX & NAB), and others.
Lord, I don't ask for a lot, but PLEASE get us an agreement that gives Live365 (the service used for the past 7+ years by OlioRadio & thousands of other Webcasters) a fighting chance not only to survive but to grow. Without a specific agreement, we're trapped under the CRB decision of 2007, for ridiculously high rates through 2010, and the process has begun for those same fine folks to stick it to us for the period 2011-2015...opps, I mean for the CRB to come up with a fair and equitable decision for the 2011-2015 time period.

No matter your Religion (or lack of it), let us pray...
Love and Peace, Clarence
Owner-Operator of OlioRadio

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