No more free web radio?

This is a web-exclusive from the latest Newsweek:

"As you read these words on your monitor, there is a decent chance that you’re also streaming a little online radio. After all, with an estimated listenership of approximately 50 million Americans per month, Internet radio has become a go-to destination for a fuller spectrum of music, an alternative to FM’s mind-numbing monotony. And if you are one of those listeners, mark May 15 on your calendar: it might well be the day that the music dies."

What has happened is this - the Copyright Royalty Board (in the US) has changed rates from a percentage of revenue to a per-song, per-listener fee—effectively hiking the rates between 300 and 1,200 percent.

This means if this rate does not change, it will wipe out the vast majority of Web radio!

How would this affect us? Well most of the English web stations that we listen to are based in the US. If they start charging, we too will be forced to pay.

Read the full article here.