Webcasters Challenge License Rate Hike

Webcasters are challenging the recent compulsory license rate increase mandated by the Copyright Royalty Board. [Wired]

I previously wrote about the announcement. This amounts to a significant new financial and regulatory burden on webcasters including those who just don’t have the funds — nonprofits, schools like SLC, and perhaps even public radio. In addition to having to pay more per song and per listener, webcasters will now have to keep full records rather than paying on an aggregate basis.

NPR argued in its filing Monday that the new rules would have “crippling effects” on public radio’s ability to meet its mandate of serving the public interest, and it also objected to the $500 per-channel minimum fee.

A group of commercial broadcasters including San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel, the largest radio company in the country, also asked for a reconsideration of key parts of the ruling, saying that the methods used to calculate the fees were faulty.