[Dixielandjazz] Fwd: Redhotjazz archive in jeopardy of closing downdue to new laws

[Stan Brager]

Bill;

There is NO new legislation in the U.S. which created this problem with the
internet music stations (of which Redhotjazz may or may not be a part). The
following article from the Los Angeles Times (see below) clarifies that this
stems from a ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board which authorized fees to
be collected.

The article also talks about a piece of legislation which would overturn the
ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board. Here is that article:

"Internet radio stations to protest royalty hikes
They will replace music with silence today to fight royalty rate hikes.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Times Staff Writer
June 26, 2007


WASHINGTON - Across the Internet, the music will die today.

It's a protest staged by online radio stations to preview what they say will
happen when substantially higher royalty rates kick in next month, silencing
for good stations that can't afford them.

Thousands of webcasters will replace their music streams today with periods
of silence and occasional messages about the dispute, urging people to press
Congress to reverse the royalty rate and fee increase set by a federal
board. But despite growing support, Congress is unlikely to act before July
15, when the new rates take effect.

That leaves Internet radio operators hoping that a federal court will grant
an emergency stay, or that negotiations with SoundExchange, the organization
that collects and distributes Internet music royalties, will lead to lower
rates and fees.

"It's not a moneymaking venture; it's a labor of love," said Ted Leibowitz,
39, a software engineer who runs BAGeL Radio from his San Francisco
apartment.

He pays about $1,000 a year to broadcast "indie rock" 24 hours a day,
sending out about 40,000 music streams a month through Live365.com, an
Internet radio service based in Foster City, Calif. The new royalty rates
threaten to shut down Live365, and Leibowitz estimates that he would have to
pay more than $100,000 a year in royalties and fees to keep his station
going.

"Even if I was a wealthy man," he said, "that would be a very expensive
hobby."

So BAGeL Radio is joining Yahoo Music, MTV Online, Rhapsody and other sites
in the National Day of Silence led by SaveNetRadio, a coalition of large and
small webcasters and artists opposing the royalty hike. Many of those sites
will point their listeners to an hourlong forum on the issue being aired
continuously today by KCRW-FM (89.9) in Santa Monica, which may have to cut
back its Internet music streaming if the rates take effect.

The webcasters are protesting a decision in March by the Copyright Royalty
Board, an obscure group of federal judges. The current rate of 0.08 of a
cent per listener each time a song is played will more than double by 2010.
The board also set a $500-a-year administrative fee for each channel a
webcaster broadcasts, and removed an alternative rate structure for small
sites that capped royalties at 10% to 12% of their revenue.

Many webcasters will have to pay a large lump sum July 15 because the new
rates and fees are retroactive to the start of 2006, when the old rates
expired.

The ruling sparked outrage on the Internet, where about 72 million listeners
a month tune in Internet music stations as an alternative to broadcast and
satellite radio.

Despite the royalty ruling, SoundExchange can strike separate deals with
websites. John Simson, the organization's executive director, said
negotiations were continuing and dismissed fears of an Internet radio
apocalypse July 15.

"We're going to be very busy the next two weeks," he said.

The $500-a-channel fee is as controversial as the per-song royalty hike.
Live365, for example, has about 10,000 channels, many of which are run by
hobbyists, who pay as little as $10 a month for the company to handle their
technology needs and royalties.

Chief Executive N. Mark Lam estimates that Live365 will owe $7 million on
July 15. The company made about $7,000 profit on $8.7 million in revenue
last year - its first annual profit since launching in 1999. He predicted
the new rates would kill the company.

Yahoo Music and Pandora have a similar problem because they create
personalized music channels for thousands of listeners, all subject to the
$500 fee. Ian Rogers, general manager of Yahoo Music, estimated the company
would have to pay about $750 million in that fee alone.

Legislation has been introduced in the House and the Senate to roll back the
royalty rate and fee increases. Although the House bill has 119 co-sponsors,
there's almost no chance that it can get through Congress before July 15.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), the lead sponsor of the House bill, said he would
continue to push for passage after the deadline. "We're just not going to
let this nascent industry die and we're not going to let people's websites
go blank," he said."

Stan
Stan Brager

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au>
To: <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Cc: <jazzgirl1920s at aol.com>; "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List"
<dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 3:09 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Fwd: Redhotjazz archive in jeopardy of closing
downdue to new laws


> Dear friends,
> The following worrying email has come in from Linda, moderator of the
> Jelly Roll Morton list.
> It seems that the magnificent Red Hot Jazz Archive site is also under
> threat from the proposed legislation aimed at the 'little' US internet
> radio stations by big business and may be forced to close (after 11
> years) on 15 July 2007.
> It looks as though we 'outsiders' may be penalised after all.
> Kind regards,
> Bill. Who doesn't really understand it all.
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: "Linda" <jazzgirl1920s at aol.com>
> > Date: Thu Jun 28, 2007  6:11:29  AM Australia/Sydney
> > To: jellyrollmorton at yahoogroups.com
> >
> > I would like to direct readers to a post at Yahoo redhotjazz by the
> > owner of the redhotjazz archive, Scott Alexander. I have learned the
> > redhotjazz archive, which we all use to listen to our favorite early
> > jazz recordings, may have to close down due to a financial hardship
> > imposed by new laws concerning music copyrights and royalty
> > payments. We should do all we can to prevent this unfortunate
> > circumstance from happening.-Linda
> >      http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/RedHotJazz/message/4395
>
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
>
>
>
>