On Tuesday, June 26, WNYC will join with other internet radio providers – including Yahoo!, Pandora.com, Rhapsody, and KCRW.org -- to observe a “Day of Silence,” to register our disagreement with a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to significantly increase royalty rates for streaming music. WNYC2, our 24 hour classical music stream, will “go silent” on June 26 from 12 midnight – 11:59pm.
Should the CRB’s decision take effect, as it is expected to do on July 15, internet radio industry-wide will be seriously impacted. But, public radio providers will be particularly affected, as our non-profit status will no longer factor into our royalty rates. WNYC and other public broadcasters will now be subjected to the increased commercial rates.
Additionally, CRB will charge for every song listened to by every listener, and the new rates will be retroactive for 17 months.
Over time, these unforeseen and disproportionately high rate hikes will imperil WNYC2 and the web streaming of Evening and Overnight Music, and thwart plans for future music streams.
You can learn more about the CRB’s decision and the Day of Silence at www.kurthanson.com/dos. This site also provides information about the Internet Radio Equality Act, which is currently under consideration in both the House and Senate.
We encourage WNYC listeners and supporters to learn the facts about the CRB’s decision and the efforts being made to revise it, and to make your opinion about the matter known to your Congressional representatives.

this post went up at 8:45 this am.

1. Under the new rates, non-commercial webcasters only get a break on the commercial royalty rate if they maintain small listenership numbers. In order to afford the astronomical new rates, WFMU may have to cap online listenership on our streams, limiting the exposure we give to independent artists by blocking our accessibility to music fans.

2. SoundExchange has not been dutifully distributing webcasting royalties to musicians, claiming on their website that they are unable to locate thousands of artists including Kraftwerk, The Replacements, Pizzicato Five, The Muffs, and even Warren G!

Instead of webcasting silence today, WFMU has decided to boycott all music that is registered with the RIAA and/or SoundExchange. Today, you will hear songs from live performances on WFMU, material from the public domain, orphaned works, music from bands and record labels that have signed a waiver releasing WFMU from SoundExchange's unreasonable royalty scheme, and music from artists that SoundExchange has neglected to pay.

I hate to inform you, but you CAN'T avoid SoundExchange by boycotting only RIAA-controlled music. SoundExchange has secured the rights to collect NO MATTER WHO CONTROLS THE COPYRIGHT!!!!

See this page:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/24/141326/870

This is why you really should fully participate in the Day of Silence.

Posted by: Jim Russell | June 26, 2007 at 05:05 PM

[...]

There are lots of recordings that SoundExchange is not allowed to collect on, including recordings that never came out on record in the first place, as well as recordings from record labels that have explicitly given us permission to webcast free of the DMCA. (We've received hundreds of such waivers from artists and small labels.)

Then there's public domain material and many other categories as well, including the fact that SoundExchange only has reciprocal agreements with three countries on the entire planet. So in fact, there is TONS of music that SoundExchange doesn't have rights over.

What you are referring to is the fact that SoundExchange has the right to collect fees on material from record labels that are not members of the RIAA. But as you can see, that's far from the end of the story. That is also only true if a webcaster has "opted in" to the statutory agreement with SoundExchnage, and there is currently no statutory agreement to opt in on.

I'm all for protesting these rates and I'm glad so many stations are doing so. But the "Day of Silence" only serves to perpetuate the false myth that SoundExchange and the RIAA control all the music on the planet.

-Ken

Posted by: Station Manager Ken | June 26, 2007 at 05:23 PM

If labels have the right to grant permission to stations, then contacting elected officials is only one part of the solution. Write letters to the labels themselves, as well as the artists they represent. Let them know that the inherent unfairness of this decision is enough to make you stop buying their records altogether, and that you will have no truck with such an evil regime. And be polite!

Posted by: Clayton | June 26, 2007 at 08:04 PM

Ken, I really hope you are right, but fear you aren't. If the Copyright Office really did grant SoundExchange the compulsory license that SoundExchage *said* they did, it's really dicey even if you get waivers. Watch that carefully constructed legalese about SRCOs ("sound recording copyright owners"). This is purposely intended to encompass all the things you mention.

Again, I hope you're right. By any reasonable interpretation of the Constitution you should be right. But that don't mean squat when the federal government is pwned by the RIAA.

Posted by: Jim Russell | June 27, 2007 at 01:00 AM

Jim - I've checked and double checked our approach with several lawyers who are well versed in this issue, so I think we're OK. Our waiver was written by a lawyer who studied the DMCA very carefully.
-Ken

Posted by: Station Manager Ken | June 27, 2007 at 03:47 AM