*Source: News.com (
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9738495-7.html)*
________
It's looking ever less likely that Congress or the courts (
http://news.com.com/Congress+urges+p...3-6193933.html) will act swiftly enough to save Webcasters from the doomsday that they argue will result from imminent new fees. But there are signs that Internet radio players and a group representing artists and record labels may be moving closer to a detente.
A few weeks ago, we reported that the increased royalty rates set to kick in July 15 were poised to create a burden not only for small major Webcasters but for the largest ones as well (
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9726943-7.html). Because the fee hikes (
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-6164865-7.html) also include a $500 minimum payment per "channel," the three largest Webcasters alone--Yahoo, RealNetworks and Pandora--said they would owe more than $1 billion in the first year alone because of the thousands of unique "channels" their services offer.
More...