Posted by admin on April 27th, 2007 under Club Dance Music

A new bill introduced in congress today may remove the otherwise outlandish fee’s introduced by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) in early March. We reported when the new fees were announced and when the appeals failed.

From The Register:

Rep. Jay inslee (D-WA) and Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL) have headed the “Internet Radio Equality Act,” which aims to stop the controversial March 2 decision which puts royalty of a .08 cent per song per listener, retroactively from 2006 to 2010 on internet radio.

The bill proposes a flat fee of 7.5% of the webcasters revenue, which is the same fees that currently apply to satellite radio. If the bill is passed, internet radio within the United states will be able to continue as before the introduction of these ridiculous fees. The fees introduced by the CRB in March have been said to increase existing charges anywhere from 300 - 1200 percent, effectively putting every internet broadcaster in America from non-profit through to the hugely popular stations, out of business.

Lets hope this bill is passed allowing internet radio to continue as it was before the greedy labels took hold of another U.S. government body.