Increased Royalties May Leave Webcasters Broadcasting Only the Sounds of Silence, Though Congress May Still Intervene
If you’re a bluegrass fan who tried to tune into the online stream BluegrassCountry.org on Tuesday, you wouldn’t have heard anything – anything except a message explaining why the stream is off the air. Programmed at public radio station WAMU 88.5 FM, it was one of countless online radio broadcasting services across the country that participated in a “Day of Silence” to protest a new ruling issued by the Copyright Royalty Board that would greatly increase the royalties for webcasting.
