December 10, 2000
Broadcasters Face Web Music Royalties
source: Broadcasting & Cable

Broadcasters will have to pay additional royalties to copyright holders to stream their signals over the Internet, the U.S. Copyright Office ruled on Friday. Broadcasters argued that they should be exempt from new fees because they already pay music licensers ASCAP and BMI some $350 million each year to play music on the radio, and the signal they stream is an exact replica of that radio signal. The Recording Industry of America, who won the decision, argued that in the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Congress narrowly tailored the law to apply only to over-the-air broadcasters converting from analog to digital.

posted on December 10, 2000 08:24 PM