SaveNetRadio Coalition Admonishes Copyright Royalty Board’s Ill-Advised Decision

WASHINGTON, April 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The SaveNetRadio coalition today responded to the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) refusal to reconsider a March 2nd 300% to 1200% increase of royalty rates for Internet webcasters, announced Monday. The coalition of Internet radio listeners, music labels, artists, and webcasters that launched a national grassroots campaign April 16th in response to the original CRB rate hike, released the following statement:

“The CRB’s failure to reconsider its ill-informed and flawed March 2nd royalty rate increase for webcasters will devastate Internet radio,” Jake Ward, a spokesperson for SaveNetRadio campaign, said. “The panel’s ruling was certainly disappointing, though unfortunately not surprising. By casually dismissing the importance of better understanding the impact of their ruling, the CRB reaffirmed the need for immediate Congressional action. May 15th will be the first day increased royalty rates take effect and the last day tens of millions of Americans are able to listen to music on thousands of webcasts that will be instantly silent. The SaveNetRadio campaign will now take the fight for the future of Internet radio and music diversity on the Internet to Capitol Hill and with the support of millions of listeners, hundreds of thousands of artists and tens of thousands of webcasters, we believe our message will be heard and Net radio saved.”

The SaveNetRadio coalition is comprised of webcasters, artists, listeners and labels from throughout the country committed to preserving the future of Internet radio.

For more information on the SaveNetRadio coalition visit http://www.savenetradio.org/.

SaveNetRadio

CONTACT: Jake Ward of SaveNetRadio, +1-202-448-3156

Web site: http://www.savenetradio.org/