Web Castes

The Library's Ruling

Last week, Librarian of Congress James Billington laid out the final decision on royalty fee rates that Internet radio stations must fork over to the recording industry. Although the rates were reduced to half the original proposed fee, Webcasters have still cued up a funeral dirge, and claim Internet radio has been dealt a deathblow.

Internet radio stations, regardless of size or profit, must now pay .07 cents per song, per listener, to record labels. The Webcasters, who have bitterly opposed the issue since it was first proposed in 1998 by the U.S. Copyright Office, say the reduced rate is still far too high, while the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) insists the fees are still too low.

Mere hours after the decision, Internet radio stations began to shut down - netrockradio.com has announced its demise, citing fees that were "specifically designed to shut down small webcasters" and "make it impossible for a non-profit station to survive."

The Digital Media Association, a trade organization for webcasters, says it will press Congress to overturn the decision and create an even lower fee. However, given the molasses-like pace of congressional legislation, such an appeal is not likely to happen any time soon, and Webcasters have all of 45 days to cough up the money they now owe retroactively from 1998.

And what will be the fate of IPM, the independent, non-profit Detroit-area station featured in this story?

"My reaction is....pensive," says the show's creator Bob Perye. "I don't play RIAA music, so I won't be paying RIAA fees, but I'm still concerned. I'm not convinced we've seen the end of this."

Perye is fiercely committed to keeping IPM up and running.

"IPM will be fine for the foreseeable future, knock on wood," he says. "There may be a need for lawyers and such, but I do not foresee RIAA fees putting me in the hole. I'll move the server to Canada before I buckle to those assholes."

- S.K.