Party's over: bills come due for Internet radio

Abstract

The future of Internet radio became a little clearer when the U.S. Librarian of Congress cut in half the proposed royalty rate Internet broadcasters must pay to record labels and artists. Artists and record labels were unhappy at the reduction in rate, while small Webcasters predicted bankruptcy for all but the largest Internet broadcasters. Earlier, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington had rejected the findings of his own Copyright Arbitration Royalry Panel (CARP), which recommended in February specific royalty rates for Internet Webcasters to pay to copyright holders and performers. But other than the deductions, he accepted almost all the CARP recommendations. Not normally associated with policy-making, the Librarian oversees the U.S. Copyright Office. The Copyright Office became involved with setting royalty payments for Internet radio through the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Digital Performance Rights in Sound Recordings Act. The paper considers the revenge of the recording industry.