U.S. Senate Passes The Webcaster Settlement Act
On Monday, we told you about how the The House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would help save internet radio as we know it. Today it rolled through the Senate and President Bush is set to sign it later this week. Some of the smaller stations would have shut down immediately followed by a few of the big ones. In simple terms this basically overturns the new fee structure and rolls back the clock on the licensing fees. I know my friends at 3wk.com will find this good news. Internet radio lives to fight another day. I’m sure the people over at Pandora and a few of the other giants will be throwing parties when this gets signed in.
The U.S. Senate passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008, sending it to President Bush’s desk for signature two days after the U.S. House of Representatives okayed the bill. The bill allows for SoundExchange, on behalf of copyright owners and performers, to negotiate with Internet radio services through 2015 an alternative royalty agreement while Congress is in recess. The negotiations are aimed at setting aside a 2007 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board that set a royalty rate that Internet radio participants said would endanger the fiscal health of webcasting. If the President signs the bill and new royalty agreements are reached, it would set a royalty rate retroactive to 2006, and allow for a framework that could resolve future disputes through 2015, according to an announcement by the Digital Media Association (DiMA). “On behalf of DiMA and our Internet radio members, I want to thank Congress for acting quickly to pass the Webcaster Settlement Act,” said DiMA executive director Jonathan Potter, in a statement. “This legislation will enable DiMA and our member companies, and all Internet radio services, to continue negotiating royalty rates with SoundExchange for the years 2006-2015. We are very hopeful of reaching agreement soon, and thereby creating long-term stability that will re-energize the Internet radio business.”
Source: Billboard
Comments(15)
I am juan. Great news for internet radio.
Yeah for George W Bush! People diss him, but he does do cool stuff. Like this!
George Bush only signs it, and is not doing any cool stuff at all
oh yea! george w does loadsa cool things-like murdering thousands of innocent children in iraq in the name of freedom! but as long as he signs the webcaster act that pales into insignificance-nice to see he has his priorities right-cluster bombs are cool as long as we can listen to radio programs!
@4
mate, gw is a moron, however b4 making statements like he has murdered 0000′ of children, provide unadulterated proof.
Thats the problem with the net these days, some moron cites something and everyone takes it for gospel, instead of just using their own brains!!!
Other than that, bloody good news for internet radio
@5-unadulterated proof? do you read newspapers? do you watch the news? the us drop cluster bombs on marketplaces and indiscriminately kill innocent bystanders in order to obliterate a particular target-the collaterall damage in iraq and afghanistan is horrendous-in gods name how can anyone be so blind to the truth? what unadulterated proof would satisfy you? open your eyes!
internet is not fun
Send me a link from the Red Cross or another reputable organisation citing these statements and i will agree whole heartedly with you… but media reports!
The media is about sensationalism and selling advertising. The media cannot be trusted since its own interest come b4 the truth…
Remember the widely reported Weapons of Mass Destruction which the media bandied around as truth, with GW, little Johnny Howard and Tony Blair egging them on.
Give me unaduterated proof or have a really close look at your sources
Arguing on the internet is a lot like the special olympics….
bushisachildkiller
October 1st, 2008 | 11:19
@5-unadulterated proof? do you read newspapers? do you watch the news? the us drop cluster bombs on marketplaces and indiscriminately kill innocent bystanders in order to obliterate a particular target-the collaterall damage in iraq and afghanistan is horrendous-in gods name how can anyone be so blind to the truth? what unadulterated proof would satisfy you? open your eyes!
—————–
Ok loudmouth..name me ONE village that he did this on. I just did a nexus search (Google on steroids) and guess what einstien…there is NO mention of this ever happening anywhere and that includes the Arab press! Now if this did happen dont you think for one moment that this would be all over the international news??
Stop being a troll like ffs! is and believing everything that you hear or I will have your official “kooks and flat earthers club” membership revoked.
Obama says he should get all the credit.
mmm-commonsense-I guess your nexus doesnt actually work as well as google does then-try googling “fallujah massacre” and see what you find.
Not bad, 3 posts to turn this thread into a political arguement. sigh, Can’t wait till it is ‘09.
Sakuji, what do you expect with liberals lying about history every chance they get?
@12, your post clearly shows that you do not have much of your post name or you would have seen that the source for this myth/lie is a soldier that was dicharged for assaults on civilians while in Iraq, he was given a “less then honorable” which is one step above a dishonorable. He claimed that the US did this “fallujah massacre” yet isnt it strange that not ONE Iraqui would back this up? Even the people that live in Fallujah say this did not happen. And when the UN sent in ivestigative people, they could not find any bodies..According to the web site, only 15 people were scheduled to provide testimony and 14 actually did – http://www.ivaw.org/files/WinterSoldierTestifierBiographies.pdf . The claim of 50 by adding panel members is an intentional distortion of the testifying numbers. McKinney said that he would furnish a listing of testifiers…? But to this day he never has. Also, Presuming the number to be true (which it certainly isn’t), why didn’t that many feel compelled to testify openly? Are any of these testimonies captured on video? No…!?! Ah… gosh darn! How convenient. yet you Mr.obviously no “realcommonsense” still believe this happened. And I bet you believe that monsters are in your closet and eagerly wait for Santa Claus and the Easter bunny every year, dont you?
awesome.. i don’t think the thousands of children were innocent… even if they were, how many thousand.. like three thousand? were all these children in one building when george bush killed them. must have been a very big building to hold thousands of children all at once.
idiot!
oh and good news for pandora.com that makes me happy