Home  |  Reply to SoundExchange  |  Letter to Musicians  |  Testimonials  |  Spread the Word

On May 22, 2007, SoundExchange announced an offer to extend the terms of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act (SWSA) through 2010. From the SoundExchange press release:

"The 2002 act that sunset in 2005 had set temporary below-market royalty rates for small Internet radio stations in order to provide them additional time to build their businesses. SoundExchange's offer to extend the core SWSA terms represents a continued subsidy for these small webcasters in the form of lower payments to artists and content owners."

On June 20th Representitives Jay Inslee and Donald A. Manzulo addressed the following letter to all the members of the House of Representitives.

Dear Colleague,

You may have seen the news that SoundExchange made offers both to small webcasters and National Public Radio (NPR) to settle concerns over the recent Copyright Royalty Board decision to raise performance royalties dramatically. Both offers were rejected by small webcasters and NPR. (NOTE: these letters have been posted in our community forum.)

Small webcasters rejected the offer because it was only a "temporary fix affecting only a small portion of the Internet radio industry." Small webcasters believe that the broader reforms outlined in the Internet Radio Equality Act, H.R. 2060 are essential to their survival. Additionally, they rejected the offer because it would "penalize success" because the offer limited revenue to $1.2 million.

NPR rejected the offer principally because it continues a flawed structure, that "create[s] impossible barriers for public radio stations to achieve [their] public service mission." One of several concerns raised by NPR was that the offer continued to apply commercial rates to noncommercial radio.

While we are encouraged by the offers made by SoundExchange, we urge them to come back to the negotiating table. The lack of a negotiated solution raises the level of urgency for a legislative solution. We believe that the Internet Radio Equality Act is such a solution because it is an equitable policy and supported by small webcasters, artists and millions of Internet radio listeners.

Please join us as a cosponsor of the Internet Radio Equality Act, H.R. 2060, and save Internet radio. If you have any questions or want to be a cosponsor, please contact Jared Weaver in Rep. Inslee's office or Chris Szymanski in Rep. Manzullo's office.

Sincerely,

JAY INSLEE
Member of Congress

DONALD A. MANZULO
Member of Congress