Congress's attempt today to broker a deal between webcasters and record labels will amount to nothing, according to a SoundExchange representative, because Wednesday's decision by a federal court of appeals made the new online radio royalty rates "etched in stone."
The representative used that expression twice before referring me to SoundExchange's May 1 press release about the Copyright Royalty Board's decision to raise royalty rates, base them on the number of songs each listener hears, and charge a minimum fee per channel that will kill services like Pandora this coming Sunday.
SoundExchange also confirmed that checks for royalties under the new rate scheme retroactive to the beginning of last year are due Monday morning, since the July 15th deadline falls on a Sunday. Overall, the person I talked to seemed certain that the rates are going into effect -- regardless of what's going on in Washington today.
Online radio... it was nice while it lasted. I hope I'm wrong, but SoundExchange seems really confident that Congress won't intervene today, tomorrow, or over the weekend.
Can this really be happening?
(image from scottschnaars)
