Serendipity35

Since my earlier post on efforts to save internet radio, there has been some good news.

Congressional offices were hit constituent phone calls, emails and faxes. According to Tim at Pandora :

The entire fax system on the Hill was brought to a standstill. We had to hand deliver the faxes!

The response in DC has been dramatic and immediate. A bill was introduced today to reverse this terrible ruling and bring rationality to bear on this issue.

The bill is called the Internet Radio Equality Act, HR 2060 and is being introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL). For more info go to SaveNetRadio

Please take a moment to call your congress person to voice your support for this legislation and urge them to sponsor or support
the bill. It's very important the we keep pressure on the legislators to ensure that this bill is passed quickly.

If you need help determining who your member of the House of Representatives is, go to www.house.gov where, in the upper left hand corner, you can enter your zip code and get the corresponding Congressperson. Click on their name to access the main phone number of their Washington, D.C. office.

Tipping the scale the other way, Pandora has started its service for listeners outside the U.S.

"It's hard to think of anything more anathema to who we are than turning off someone's radio, but the current legal realities leave us no choice. While the DMCA provides us a blanket license in the U.S., there is no equivalent in other countries. After a year of work, only the UK and Canada have shown enough progress for us to feel comfortable allowing continued access."

My own Congressperson, Bill Pascrell Jr., responded to my email:

H.R 2060, the "Internet Radio Equality Act," would provide royalty parity for Internet radio providers. It would vacate the Copyright Royalty Board's (CRB) March 2 decision to raise music royalty rates by 300 to 1200 percent and apply the same royalty rate-setting standard to commercial Internet radio, as well as satellite radio, cable radio and jukeboxes. A transition rate of 7.5 percent of revenue would be set through 2010.

Internet radio has provided the public with a way to express their views publicly, and allow others to listen for little or no cost. I am concerned that many citizens' freedom of speech will be infringed due to the CRB's decision to raise the royalty rates. Currently, H.R 2060 is pending action in the House Committee on Judiciary. I will be sure to keep you views in mind as this bill makes its way through the legislative process.