As of today, Thursday July 12, a group of Internet Radio Broadcasters (including Live365) have begun negotiations with SoundExchange to lower the new royalty rates that threatened to shut down all U.S.-based Webcasters on July 15th. It's been reported that in a closed-door Congressional-led session today, SoundExchange promised not to begin collecting under the new rates, rates too high for any Webcaster to afford. SoundExchange said that they would continue to collect royalties at the old rates until a new agreement is "hammered out".
Link: http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/07/breaking-news-o.html
(much thanks to Live365 broadcaster & All-Time Good Person Betty J for alerting us to this story)
So we can all breathe again. Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of emails, calls, & letters you sent to Congress over the past few months. There is now great hope that Musicians can continue to recieve a fair Royalty for their work & Webcasters can afford to continue to play that work. This isn't an ending. No deal is finalized, nothing is set in stone. We can still use your help to keep the heat turned up on SoundExchange until a settlement is signed, sealed, & delivered. If you haven't worn your typing finger(s) out
, check out live365.com/choice for more info & addresses & phone numbers for your Senators & Representative. Again, a huge Thank You to all you folks for your hard work & support. Hopefully, we'll all be able to get back to playing & listening to the great variety of recordings here at OlioRadio and on stations all over the 'net!
Love & Peace, Clarence
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