The US House Of Representatives' Small Business Committee will today open a hearing into the proposed increase in the amount of royalties internet radio stations should pay record labels.
As previously reported, the US web radio sector has been mounting a proactive campaign against a ruling made by the US Copyright Royalty Board earlier this year which will see the royalty rates in the internet radio domain rise significantly next month. That campaign, which included a Day Of Silence earlier this week during which numerous internet stations stopped broadcasting, has won support in both the House Of Representatives and Senate where proposals have been put forward that would link web radio royalties to those paid by satellite radio stations, a much more favourable deal for the webcasters.
It is those proposals that will be considered by the House's Small Business Committee in a hearing entitled "Assessing the Impact of the Copyright Royalty Board Decision to Increase Royalty Rates on Recording Artists and Webcasters". Bryan Miller of WOXY.com, Richard Eisworth of Cincinnati Public Radio and artist Joey Allcorn will all talk in favour of the proposals put forward by the House and Senate, while the record labels, who want the CRB ruling to stand, will be represented by the US's internet royalties society SoundExchange plus Tommy Boy Records' Tom Silverman, American Federation Of Musicians' Thomas F Lee and artist Cathy Fink.
It isn't clear what will happen if political debate on this issue is ongoing on 15 Jul, when the CRB's new rates are now due to kick in. But with that date approaching those supporting a change in the law to help the webcasters are urging their political colleagues to move quickly or, they claim, many smaller webcasters will go out of business.