GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Webcasters' Day of Silence: Is It Working?

Barefootsies · 06-27-2007, 08:16 AM

Thousands of webcasters shut down today in protest of new retroactive royalty rates that would drive most of them out of business or force them into lockstep formation with the terrestrial radio stations many of us have learned to tune out. (One of the worst aspects of the new rates that I didn't mention in the above-linked article is the $500 per-month-per-station minumum payment, which would make customized radio services such as Pandora financially impossible.)

So... is the Day of Silence working (i.e. is Congress going to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would eliminate the minimum fee per channel and charge webcasters the same 7.5%-of-revenue rate enjoyed by satellite radio)?

Some readers of this blog have sent me comments indicating that they aren't seeing this issue covered enough in enough other publications, but word has apparently spread wide enough in the online community to jam the servers SaveNetRadio is using to supply people with their Congresspeople's phone numbers (I personally witnessed one of these slowdowns).

RAIN reports that Capital Advantage had to add servers in order to cope with the traffic spike, and that Congressional switchboards have been jammed today due to calls related to the royalty rates. Ultimately, of course, we won't know whether it was a success unless Congress intervenes before the first royalty payment is due under the new rates -- on July 16 -- but at least they're getting an earful today, which should go a long way in convincing them that people care about this stuff.

Call Congress about the new webcasting royalty rates

Update: Someone from Pandora forwarded me a link (US News) that has Mark West, SVP of Capital Advantage (which runs the CapWiz servers SaveNetRadio is using for this campaign), calling today "the busiest day we've seen in months" and comparing today's traffic spike to one that occurred after an Oprah Winfrey directive urged her followers to log on to Congress.org.

(image from Rhapsody's Day of Silence splash page)

http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/06/...ebcasters.html

06-27-2007, 08:16 AM
Barefootsies Choice is an Illusion Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Land of Obama Posts: 42,635	Webcasters' Day of Silence: Is It Working? Thousands of webcasters shut down today in protest of new retroactive royalty rates that would drive most of them out of business or force them into lockstep formation with the terrestrial radio stations many of us have learned to tune out. (One of the worst aspects of the new rates that I didn't mention in the above-linked article is the $500 per-month-per-station minumum payment, which would make customized radio services such as Pandora financially impossible.) So... is the Day of Silence working (i.e. is Congress going to pass the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would eliminate the minimum fee per channel and charge webcasters the same 7.5%-of-revenue rate enjoyed by satellite radio)? Some readers of this blog have sent me comments indicating that they aren't seeing this issue covered enough in enough other publications, but word has apparently spread wide enough in the online community to jam the servers SaveNetRadio is using to supply people with their Congresspeople's phone numbers (I personally witnessed one of these slowdowns). RAIN reports that Capital Advantage had to add servers in order to cope with the traffic spike, and that Congressional switchboards have been jammed today due to calls related to the royalty rates. Ultimately, of course, we won't know whether it was a success unless Congress intervenes before the first royalty payment is due under the new rates -- on July 16 -- but at least they're getting an earful today, which should go a long way in convincing them that people care about this stuff. Call Congress about the new webcasting royalty rates Update: Someone from Pandora forwarded me a link (US News) that has Mark West, SVP of Capital Advantage (which runs the CapWiz servers SaveNetRadio is using for this campaign), calling today "the busiest day we've seen in months" and comparing today's traffic spike to one that occurred after an Oprah Winfrey directive urged her followers to log on to Congress.org. (image from Rhapsody's Day of Silence splash page) http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/06/...ebcasters.html __________________ Should You Email Your Members? Link1 \| Link2 \| Link3 Enough Said. "Would you rather live like a king for a year or like a prince forever?"