NAB Throws Support Behind Internet Radio Equality Act

The National Association of Broadcasters announced its "unequivocal support" for the Internet Radio Equality Act, accusing SoundExchange of not responding to a "good-faith, reasonable" offer made by NAB to SoundExchange on June 6th for setting royalty rates for webcasting -- or possibly just a special rate for simulcasts of terrestrial programming [see update].

If passed, Rep. Inslee's IREA would charge webcasters a percentage of royalties
rather than the per-song-per-listener fee combined with a $500/stationminimum charge that would kill or change most webcasters in operationtoday.

5pm Update: Dennis Wharton, EVP of Media Relations for NAB, just told me that he can't talk about the terms that were offered to SoundExchange by NAB member stations. However, he was able to confirm that the proposed rates, should they be accepted by SoundExchange, would only apply to simulcasts of terrestrial radio stations, "not to the Yahoos of the world." He said SoundExchange's only response has been "a stony silence," and that terrestrial radio stations see webcasting as an important avenue for their programming. As a result, they had no choice but to throw their full support behind bills in the House and Senate that would reject the rates proposed by SoundExchange and implemented by the Copyright Royalty Board.

Here's NAB's press release:

"NAB... renewed its unequivocal support for legislation sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA), known as the Internet Radio Equality Action. The Inslee bill, introduced in April, has garnered 140 co-sponsors and would reverse a controversial Copyright Royalty Board decision that dramatically increased rates for local radio stations that stream music over the Internet.

"NAB's strong backing of the Inslee bill follows an offermade on behalf of NAB member radio stations to SoundExchange, anorganization created by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA) to establish and collect royalties for digital sound recordings.
NAB has yet to receive a response from SoundExchange to the offer,
which was made on June 6.

"We are disappointed bySoundExchange's continued reluctance to respond to the good-faith,
reasonable offer put forth by NAB nearly two months ago. NAB will nowturn our attention to aggressively advocating in support of Rep.
Inslee's legislation to ensure that local radio broadcasters who streamcontent online are treated fairly."

Could negotiations between SoundExchange and webcasters be breaking down?

(via RAIN)