So while the big news of the day will undoubtedly be Paris Hilton being release from jail… the thing I am more concerned about at the moment is a royalty increase that is set to go into effect starting July 15th.
The Royalty hike, as I understand it, is basically a huge increase in fees for those who host online radio stations. From what I read though, the biggest problem with the increase is a new “per station” fee.
Again, as I understand it, this would mean any website that allows custom playlists would be subject to a fee for each “custom” playlist created. It could easily mean the end of sites like Live365 and Yahoo Music. That would in turn mean the end of WTMK (one of my favorite video game music stations).
I suppose the smart thing would be for me to tell you to contact your senator and relay the message that they need to get on these judge’s to override the rate hike. Otherwise, we’ll all be missing some of our favorite online radio stations…
Want to read about it yourself? here