Save Net Radio

You may have heard that Internet Radio is dying. To get you up to date, here are the facts:

The Facts:

• IR webcasters currently pay a performance fee of 1.17 cents per listener-hour (or about .076 cents per song streamed to each listener) that terrestrial radio does not pay and satellite radio pays at a much lower rate
• Artists on terrestrial radio get no royalty payments at all; composers and publishers are paid through ASCAP or BMI publishing agencies
• The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is the agency charged by Congress with overseeing royalty disputes
• The CRB proposed to raise the royalty rates for internet webcasters based on the recommendations of Sound Exchange, a non-profit set up by record labels and musician unions
• The ruling will increase fees to .08 cents per song per listener, with incremental increases over the next 5 years until the fee reaches .19 cents per song per listener
  
• The increases are 30 to 300% of what stations currently pay and makes internet radio economically impossible for almost all internet radio stations
  
• The proposed royalty hikes are to begin payment May 15th and the fees are retroactive to January 2006
• The CRB denied a stay and rehearing
  
• The Internet Radio Equality Act is a recently introduced bipartisan act that would make the fees in line with what satellite radio pays: 7.5% of revenues
  

The Sides:

• Supporters of the proposed royalty rate hike argue that the music industry needs to shift it's focus in the new digital age and this is one way for artists to collect money they are rightfully owed (and not getting from CD sales).
  

• Opponents, which include many artists, believe the rates are far too high and will kill off most internet radio stations. The promotion and services provided by Internet radio are a wonderful tool for artists and listeners and these misguided, increased rates will kill the medium entirely.

For further reading:

"Radio's Tangled Web" (via Newsweek)

"The End of Internet Radio?" including an interview with Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, which is leading the fight against this ruling. (via Alternet)

"Congress to rescue the Internet radio star" (via CNNMoney.com)

The official (115 page) proceedings for the Determination of Rates and Terms by the CRB (via CRB)

SaveNetRadio.Org

Can anyone tell me about the symbolism of this slice of bread? I don't get it.