Save the Internet & Net Radio

Hey, so here are a couple pet causes of mine lately... but more than being my pet causes, they're very real access issues everybody who cares about free exchange of information should care about. Net neutrality is both advocated and explained in pretty simple terms in the following video.



No such luck with a catchy video for saving Net Radio, but it's as compelling a situation. The case is laid out pretty well as follows:

On March 2, 2007 the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased Internet radio's royalty burden between 300 and 1200 percent and thereby jeopardized the industry’s future.

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed. And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters’ royalties will grow exponentially!




You can click on the link above to learn more or take action on saving Net Radio.