Non-commercial Radio Listeners Urged to Contact Congressional Representatives

(Berkeley, CA, June 22, 2007) KPFA will join thousands of U.S. webcasters in a Day of Silence this Tuesday, June 26. KPFA will silence its regular Internet broadcasts to draw attention to an impending royalty rate increase that, if implemented, would lead to the virtual shutdown of this country's Internet radio industry.

A recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision increases royalties that commercial Internet webcasters pay to play music by up to 1200%. The new rates take effect on July 15. Non-commercial stations, such as KPFA, will be required to pay royalties at the commercial rate for any listeners they have over a limit defined by the CRB, about 215 listeners per hour.

"It's particularly onerous that non-commercial webcasters will have to pay the same rates, past a certain low threshold, as commercial stations", says KPFA's interim Program Director Sasha Lilley. "KPFA may be forced to cap the number of people who can listen to us online".

The CRB decision also requires that webcasters pay a minimum $500 "administrative fee" for every channel they broadcast online, without clearly defining what a channel is, or what the fees are to be used for. These arbitrary and vaguely defined "administrative fees" would cost KPFA thousands of dollars a year.

"At this point no one seems quite sure what the additional fees will be or even how to calculate what we would owe," says Bonnie Simmons, a veteran KPFA DJ, "The accounting process itself may cost us more than we can possibly afford."

KPFA urges listeners to contact their Congressional representatives and ask that they take action to save Internet radio. The Internet Radio Equality Act, H.R. 2060, has been introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) to address many of the problems with the CRB decision. A companion bill, S.B. 1353, has been introduced in the Senate. "We are urging Congress to take action to overturn the CRB decision," says Michael Manoochehri, KPFA Web Director, "Legislation has been put in place, but without immediate action by Congress, the legislation will not be voted on before the July 15th deadline."

For many years, KPFA has featured artists who are not normally heard on commercial radio. KPFA Music Director, Luis Medina, describes KPFA's music shows as "programming that is innovative, fresh and cutting edge," adding, "KPFA's music programmers have the freedom to go beyond the standards set by other radio stations handicapped by commercial obligations and restrictive play lists."

To learn more about how the royalty hikes will affect KPFA, as well as how to contact Congressional Representatives, visit http://kpfa.org/savewebradio, or contact web@kpfa.org.

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