• by July 16, 2007

Internet radio has survived...for now, at least. Smaller radio Webcasters, which were most threatened by the greatly increased royalty fees officially due yesterday, were expected to continue streaming. The SoundExchange collection organization apparently agreed on Friday to at least hold off on suing them for non-payment while negotiations continue.

Larger radio Webcasters were another story, however, as SoundExchange Executive Director John Simson stated: "We do expect commercial Webcasters like Yahoo and AOL to pay the new royalty rates set by the CRB [Copyright Royalty Board]."

SoundExchange's latest proposal included a cap on its $500 per channel mininum fee at $50,000 minimum per year, in exchange for Webcasters providing detailed reporting of the music they play and working to stop users from "streamripping," defined as "turning Internet radio performances into a digital music library."

As SoundExchange's discussions with both Congress and Webcasters progressed on Friday, Wired's Listening Post blog by Eliot Van Buskirk became the chief source of information for both the industry and public. Even SaveNetRadio.org, the most vocal nemesis of SoundExchange, simply directed listeners to Buskirk's reports.