On Friday at a House Energy and Commerce Committee roundtable hosted by Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) and attended by seven additional Members of Congress, SoundExchange announced an offer to cap the $500 per channel minimum fee exacted on Webcasters at $50,000 annually through 2010, for the full length of the term. DiMA, the trade organization that represents Yahoo! Music and other webcasters, has accepted the offer. With the minimum fee issue off the table, we are hopeful that we can negotiate a fair royalty rate with SoundExchange that will support a sustainable business environment for Internet radio.

We hope there will be more good news to come shortly. Check the Yahoo! Music blog for updates.

ian c rogers
GM, Yahoo! Music

Don’t let it bother the rest of us because Uncle Sam got the hump and spat his dummy out

Dave
Essex

What if the artists give them permission to play the tunes?

By the way, didn’t artist used to beg radio stations to play their music so people would buy the disks at the stores?

What makes the senators think they are doing free interprise a favor?

I thought about putting up a free radio station and letting young artist expose their music, videos on the net for free. Then people could order a full version from the station or the artists website.

I wonder if these senators and reps are getting bribes. There is something not right here.

That is absolutely not true: I tried all day long yesterday to contact my senator at her offices in Washington without success. Only today , this morning, a day after the request to call the senators was called for, I was able to communicate and give them my opinion to this ridiculous increase on rates.

Although I live in Canada…I support you all the way.

These licensing rules are only for US internet radio stations. Set up in Canada or Mexico and they don’t apply. The RIAA might argue that they apply to any station being listened to in the USA but that doesn’t fly either technically or legally. This is like when stations would go across the border to get around broadcast power limits and censorship in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, it’s an excellent business opportunity for someone.

Unless you were really serious and wanted to send a point — and shut down for an entire month — then nothing will be accomplished here.

I think “Internet Radio Slowdown Day” would have been more appropriate. Play only songs from independent artists and artists who have negotiated favorable rates, interspersed with good, compelling ads that move people to action.

As for me, I’ll crank up LaunchCast Plus and listen to commercial-free uninterrupted music all the worklong day today. And if that fails, the only one getting complaints from me will be Yahoo!, not my congressman. (And while waiting for Yahoo!’s response, I’d be listening to my iPod full of legitimately paid-for music.)