Internet radio

Overview

Internet radio refers to the practice of broadcasting radio-like content over the Internet (more technically: making streaming audio content available on the Internet for multiple listeners who need not "log in" or otherwise identify themselves). The practice of broadcasting content over the Internet is referred to as webcasting, or just 'casting. (The term "netcasting" is usually used in reference to broadcasting within a private (e.g. corporate) computer network.)

It is a minor issue in general because of disagreements over how to license content for net 'casting; these were more or less resolved by fiat when the RIAA posted a set of rules and rates for webcasting; although not everyone was happy with the rules, webcasters generally complied and the issue went on the back burner.

2007-03-02 New US Rules

On March 2, 2007, however, the United States government, through the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), announced a new set of higher rates that are retroactive to the previous year (2006) and which escalate steeply (more than doubling) up through 2010. There is also a $500 minimum fee per channel per year, which is especially prohibitive for sites (such as Live365) offerign subscribers the ability to run their own stations: although some of the stations make money, the majority of them are non-commercial and extremely low traffic, with listener-counts in the single or double digits.

Given the rates currently paid for advertising on webcasts and the low demand for advertising airtime, these new rates make webcasting essentially commercially non-viable.

Furthermore, the new regulations require webcasters to pay these rates even if they only broadcast content whose license allows free broadcasting. It is not clear where the dividing line, if any, is between a "webcaster" and an individual or company 'casting their own material. Some entirely legitimate in-between situations exist which might (or might not) now be required to pay tithes to the record industry without receiving any significant value in kind:

• an artist who streams their own original music but whose copyrights reside with a publishing company (which the artist may or may not own in full) rather than with the artist personally
• an individual who streams original music of bands who are her/his personal friends, with the bands' permission
• a record label which streams the original music of their artists, with the artists' permission
• a web service site such as Jamendo which provides a service allowing artist-clients to stream their own music, and which may publish streams of music from multiple artist-clients with the artists' permission

Links

• 2007-03-12 New Music Royalty Rates May Shut Down Internet Radio
• SaveTheStreams.org: "Internet radio may be driven out of business within weeks by a Copyright Royalty Board decision that gives record companies a royalty rate that exceeds 100% of most webcasters' total revenues..."
  • FAQ
• Save Internet Radio at Live365, possibly the largest webcasting company, with thousands of subscriber-operated streams