Something seems amiss here. According to BetaNews, the Copyright Licensing Board (an arm of the Library of Congress) ruled in March that online radio (streamed music) must pay royalties to the RIAA (via the SoundExchange, an industry group) that greatly exceed the amount paid by “real” (AM/FM) radio stations.
The retroactive fee change (how can they make it retroactive?) will probably doom Pandora. And the San Jose Mercury News calls it a “huge gift” to the record industry (13 March Op-Ed, pay-to-view).
BetaNews estimates that online webcasting leader AOL Radio may receive a bill for copyright holders’ royalties retroactive to 2006 amounting to $23.7 million, payable to a collective representing the US recording industry… This while the world’s three major copyright holders’ groups – ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC – collectively charge terrestrial broadcast radio stations $972 per year per station, for the rights to broadcast exactly the same music to an equivalent or larger audience.