Denial of Emergency Stay Petition Will Force Congress to Act

Court's Decision Not the End of the Road

    WASHINGTON, July 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. District Court
 of Appeals has denied a petition submitted by a number of webcaster
 associations for an emergency stay according to the SaveNetRadio coalition.
 The stay, if granted, would have delayed the July 15th due date of royalty
 payments owed by webcasters to SoundExchange as part of a May 1 rate
 increase by the Copyright Royalty Board. The 300-1200 percent increase of
 the sound recording royalties webcasters pay to play music online has been
 hotly contested by webcasters, net radio listeners and more than 6,000
 artists over the past three months.
     "We are disappointed that the Court failed to acknowledge the
 irreparable and quite frankly, devastating effect these new royalties will
 have on the Internet radio industry," said Jake Ward, a spokesperson for
 the SaveNetRadio coalition of webcasters, net radio listeners and artists.
 "An invoice of more than 1 billion dollars must be paid in four days, which
 is unfathomable for an industry that grossed less than $200 million last
 year. This is a setback, but it is certainly not the end of the road. More
 than 70 million Americans listen to Internet radio and tens of thousands of
 artists depend on webcasters to promote their music; webcasters aren't
 going to simply give up the music they love without a fight. SaveNetRadio
 and its partners continue to urge net radio supporters to contact their
 Congressional Representatives and ask them to support the Internet Radio
 Equality Act, which now has 128 cosponsors in the House. We will fight
 against this unreasonable rate increase until a solution is reached."
     "The Court's failure to act has put the ball squarely in the hands of
 Congress and Members of Congress work for the people, many of whom enjoy
 net radio everyday," Ward continued. "Congress has already received more
 than a half million messages in support of Internet radio and the IREA; in
 light of the Court's decision I would certainly expect that members in the
 House and Senate will hear from their constituents today."
     Legislation currently before Congress, H.R. 2060 and S. 1353 -- the
 Internet Radio Equality Act -- would vacate the Copyright Royalty Board's
 decision and set a 2006-2010 royalty rate at the same level currently paid
 by satellite radio services (7.5% of revenue.) The bill would also change
 the royalty rate-setting standard used in royalty arbitrations, so that the
 standard applied to webcasters would align with that applied to satellite
 radio.
     For more information on the SaveNetRadio coalition visit
 http://www.savenetradio.org.
 
 

SOURCE SaveNetRadio