On Tuesday, May 8, WKMS joins radio stations all over the nation in a “day of silence,” to bring attention to a huge increase in Internet broadcasting royalty fees. As such, listeners that go to the WKMS website on May 8, WKMS.org, and try to listen, will hear only silence. The station hopes this will last only one day, and thanks listeners for their patience.
Internet broadcasting fits within WKMS’ mission to provide quality, educational programming, diverse music and in-depth news to those who may not otherwise receive it. While the station’s immense listener support keeps them broadcasting to a broad three-state area, the Internet allows even those who are out of reach of WKMS’ broadcast signal to listen online—anytime, anywhere.
Currently, WKMS and other public radio stations are covered by an agreement with the music industry’s copyright holders– BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, and RIAA. That agreement has been negotiated and paid for on WKMS’ behalf by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through Congressional appropriations.
In March, the Copyright Royalty Board announced a huge increase in the royalties Internet radio broadcasters must pay – including public, non-profit radio stations such as WKMS. The increase is slated to take effect July 15th; and amounts to a nearly twelve hundred percent hike.
Democrat Jay Inslee of Washington State introduced a bill that would make fees both fair and equitable for all internet broadcasters. It’s called the Internet Radio Equality Act (HR-2060). Republican Don Manzullo of Illinois co sponsored the bill.
For more information, or to join WKMS in supporting H-R 2060, The Internet Radio Equality Act, visit the station’s web site, wkms.org.
update: POSTPONED!
Notice:
The SaveNetRadio.org Day of Silence has been cancelled or at least delayed pending the outcome of the Internet Radio Equality Act.
We are trying not to cry foul before we really need to do so. Lets try other means to help people contact their representatives in Washington about sponsoring HR 2060 and the Senate bill being submitted very shortly.
Thank you
Paul Gathard, President
Barnabas Road Media
A leader in streaming media for broadcast radio
More to come on this as it develops!
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