Ruling Might Hinder Internet Radio Broadcast

Librarian James Billington approved parts of a recommendation from the Copyright Arbitration and Royalty Panel calling for Internet-based radio stations and radio stations simulcasting their broadcasts online to pay a .07 cent per performance, per listener fee.

Noncommercial stations like WXYC -- the first radio station to simulcast online -- will be charged .02 cents per song, per listener. The minimum charge for a single radio station is $500.

The fees, which are retroactive to Oct. 28, 1998, are due Oct. 20.

The legislation also calls for stricter reporting requirements, including placement of the song title, artist, album title, record label, copyright number and other items on the Internet broadcast.

Ashley Atkinson, a member of station management at WXYC, said radio stations already pay flat fees for the license to broadcast on air and that it is not fair for them to be charged twice.

"There is not really a good reason they should be making us report these things and pay these fees when we already pay fees to broadcast on the radio, and we're doing them a service by broadcasting to a larger audience," she said.

But Atkinson said the fees might be surmountable but that the reporting requirements that would cause the station to stop broadcasting online.

"We just can't do that," she said. "We don't have the manpower."

Atkinson said the radio station is staffed by students, alumni and volunteers and that they cannot be expected to do the research required for the reporting requirements.

Beginning July 1, there will be a 60-day period for radio stations and other interested parties to appeal the decision.

Students at Rice University are leading a nationwide effort to protest the legislation called "Save Our Streams" -- a reference to the streaming software stations use to broadcast online. They are organizing letter-writing campaigns and circulating a petition on their Web site.

Atkinson said that if noncommercial stations are not successful in getting the ruling overturned, WXYC most likely will have to stop simulcasting.

"The signs point to the fact that by September 1 we'll have to shut down the Web cast," she said.

In May, the librarian of Congress rejected a similar proposal from the CARP recommending legislation requiring royalty fees, reports on items to be broadcast and restrictions on what can be broadcast over the Internet.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.