Thousands of U.S.-based webcasters plan to turn off the music and go silent this Tuesday, June 26, to draw attention to an impending royalty rate increase that, if implemented, would lead to the virtual shutdown of this country’s Internet radio industry.
Pandora, Yahoo! Launchcast, MTV Online and Rhapsody, and many others have announced their support. Big radio wants to push the small broadcasters off the Net and they’re doing it by trying to implement grotesquely excessive fees. Big Music just wants to gouge as much money as possible. even if it kills their business long-term.
However, Congress has been responding to the huge numbers of faxes, email, and phone calls from those wanting to save the diversity and breath of Net radio, and will be holding hearings on this. Let’s keep the pressure on.