A huge protest has led to the temporary shutdown of some of the largest radio
broadcasters on the web.
The Day of
Internet Radio Silence is a coordinated effort by internet broadcasters to
protest against proposed royalty hikes for music played over the internet.
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The hikes were introduced in March by the
US
Copyright Royalty Board, and will take effect on 15 July. Many smaller
internet broadcast companies have said that they will be forced to shut down.
Although the increases will hit small broadcasters the hardest, some of the
largest broadcasting sites on the internet are joining the fight.
Companies such as
Yahoo,
MTV,
Rhapsody
and
Pandora
have all shut down their music feeds in a show of solidarity.
Yahoo Music general manager Ian Rogers explained the company's position in a
blog
posting.
"The situation web-casters are in is simple: the new royalty rates are higher
than the revenues anyone can hope to make from related advertising," he wrote.
"In other words, we all lose money on internet radio starting 15 July."
Rogers named and shamed
Clear
Channel and
AOL for being
among the few online broadcasters not to participate in the protest. Neither
company returned a request for comment from
vnunet.com.
Users attempting to log in to Pandora were greeted with a letter from founder
Tim Westergren urging listeners to contact their local members of congress in
support of the
Internet
Radio Equality Act (PDF).
The legislation would restructure the royalty system to charge broadcasters a
flat 7.4 per cent royalty fee on all profits.
Rhapsody and MTV replaced their music player windows with a graphic
explaining the shutdown and a link to the
SaveNetRadio
Coalition website.
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