Web radio broadcasters in the US are having a radio "day of silence" in protest of the Copyright Royalty Board's plans to raise royalty payments for music that is played online. The protest is being organized by the SaveNetRadio Coalition, which includes Yahoo, Viacom and RealNetworks, and could cost them up to $1billion in additional administration fees. The webcasters are claiming that they could be forced into bankruptcy by the near %300 increase in royalty fees, and could diminish a service that nearly 50 million people use.
However, not everybody feels that the day of silence is a good idea, as a Last FM spokesperson said: "We don't want to punish our users and the show must go on. We have sympathy for the issue but we are a global operator. The idea of introducing fees has been mooted in the UK but nobody is talking about a similar protest here. We may well treat it differently." The plan is supposed to be pushed forward by the Copyright Royalty Board on 15 July, so we'll see what happens!
From: The feminist reading of a perfectly harmless memory device