Save the Radio!!!

A ruling by an obscure regulatory agency threatens to silence Internet radio. After intense lobbying from the recording industry, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is about to mandate exponential increases — by as much as 1,200 percent — in royalties paid every time webcasters stream a song online.

If these unfair rules are allowed to go into effect on May 15, many public, independent and smaller Internet radio stations will have to shut down. At stake is the diversity of musical choice that the Internet has come to represent for more than 50 million listeners.

Congress must stop this bad rule and replace it with a system that both pays artists and fosters more diverse Internet radio programming. We must rapidly mobilize support for new legislation that will rescue Internet radio before it’s too late.

Rescue Internet Radio: Take Action Today

Protect Artists and Webcasters
Though compensating artists is crucial, that goal must be balanced with the desire to maximize the number of places listeners can go to hear new music. Artists cannot benefit from music channels that no longer exist.

Both artists and webcasters must be protected with reasonable regulations. The CRB decision was crafted by lobbyists at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and favors only the largest record labels. It raises the pay-per-performance rate to a level that is not sustainable for upstart webcasters — wiping the Internet clean of diverse musical options, while taking away the only chances many artists have to be heard.

The CRB rushed these draconian rules into place despite tens of thousands of protest letters from listeners, musicians and webcasters. Their rules would force webcasters to make a back payment for all music played since 2006.

When the rule takes effect. the vast majority of webcasters could immediately go out of business. NPR, Pacifica and community radio stations would be crippled and forced to take down much of their online content.

Learn More about the CRB Decision

You Can Help Rescue Internet Radio
Independent musicians, webcasters and listeners are joining forces with members of Congress to reverse this bad decision. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) introduced the bipartisan Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060), which would reverse the CRB decision.

If not reversed by Congress, the CRB rule change will stifle the creative, independent and diverse range of musical choices now available online. Instead, listeners will be left with the same cookie-cutter formats that have turned commercial radio into a mind-numbing race to the bottom.

Industry-wide consolidation has destroyed musical diversity and shut out independent and local artists on broadcast radio. We can’t let the same thing happen on the Internet.

Inslee and Manzullo’s legislation would reverse the CRB ruling so that artists and musicians can thrive alongside a new generation of Internet radio webcasters.

Support the Internet Radio Equality Act
Read Inslee and Manzullo’s New Legislation