U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), chief sponsors of the “Internet Radio Equality Act” in the Senate, are vowing to press forward with it if webcasters and  SoundExchange, the performance rights organization, fail to reach a compromise agreement with respect to royalty rates by Labor Day.  The Senate returns from its summer recess on September 3. 

In a joint statement issued earlier this month, the senators reassert their belief that “Internet Radio is crucial to many segments of business and culture – to small and large webcasters building sustainable businesses; to independent artists trying to make it in a crowded industry; and to millions of music fans searching for new diverse music that corporate radio generally does not offer.”

The two said they “sponsored the Internet Radio Equality Act because the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)’s decision to dramatically increase royalties and apply what we see as unfounded minimum rates threatens to devastate the Internet radio industry.”  Maintaining that “online radio services do not have enough revenue to support what will amount to to unprecedented royalties,” they said “The $500 per channel [or stream]  minimum fee alone will deliver an over $1-billion annual windfall to record companies, a windfall that is not justified by any business or equity considerations.”

The minimum fee issue appears to be of particular concern to the senators right now.  They claim to have heard reports that the recording industry is seeking to use this aspect of the March 5 CRB decision (that was set to take effect July 15) to compel webcasters “to adopt recording restrictions far in excess of the controls that have governed broadcast content for decades.”  While expressing strong support for a negotiated solution, Wyden and Brownback say that they “will not allow the minimum fee issue to be used to force an agreement that mandates DRM technology and fails to respect the established principles of fair use and consumer rights.”  DRM technology prevents listeners from “ripping” webcast streams.

“If great progress toward a fair solution for webcasters is not made by Congress’s return to Washington after Labor Day, then we plan to take expeditious steps toward passage of the Internet Radio Equality Act,” assert Senators Wyden and Brownback in their August 2 joint statement.  The SaveNetRadio Coalition has been exhorting Internet radio listeners to continue contacting their senators and representatives to urge support for the measure.