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Web Radio Stations Hope Silence Speaks Volumes About Fee Hike
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Despite their eleventh-hour lobbying, some Web radio executives admit that it's a long shot that Congress will move quickly enough to save the smaller Internet radio outfits.
There have been higher-profile topics on the Hill in recent months, said Mark Lam, chief executive of Live365. "I don't know whether there's enough time," he said.
Caryn G. Mathes, general manager at WAMU, said the new fees would exceed the revenue it brings in from an online bluegrass music station. "We would probably have to fold it," she said.
Pandora might suspend operations if new fees go into effect.
"If we think the rates are not going to get fixed, we can't go on spending money willy-nilly if we don't believe in the business model," said founder Tim Westergren.
Nate Query, bass player for the popular indie rock band the Decemberists, said that Internet radio stations helped his band gain some of its fame and that he worries higher fees could shut down an important source for many music fans. Query came to Washington last week to tell congressional staffers that he thinks SoundExchange is taking a "backwards approach" to Internet royalty fees.
But Query admits that it's a tough topic to explain, even to his own bandmates.
"At first they were like, 'Royalties are good -- so what's the deal?' "
