forwarded from Luxuriamusic:

Luxuriants,

A bill has been introduced that will save independent internet radio from the huge royalty payments that the CRB recently handed down. Call your Representative right now and ask them to co-sponsor the “Internet Radio Equality Act”, introduced by Representative Jay Inslee. This bill will set royalty rates that internet radio pays to the same reasonable level that satellite radio pays.

Please call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your representative.

If you don’t know who your representative is, you can find them here

Go to www.savenetradio.org for more information

Then tell them:

– I am a constituent and I’m calling to ask Congressman/woman ________ to save Internet radio by co-sponsoring the Internet Radio Equality Act.

– Due to the recent Copyright Royalty Boards decision to significantly
increase royalty rates for webcasters. In the case of most independent
Internet radio stations, the royalties amount to several times their gross revenues!

– Without this bill, my favorite Internet radio stations will be forced off the air and I do NOT want that to happen. Please tell Congressman/woman ________ to co-sponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act, which sets royalties for Internet radio that is fair and in-line with what other digital radio services pay.

Other information you may want to share:

– Internet radio stations have been paying royalties, and are happy to pay reasonable royalties that fairly compensate artists for the music they make. But putting webcasters out of business by royalties that are
several times their gross revenues will actually harm artists who depend on independent Internet radio to get their music out to fans, build new audiences and sell their music. When internet radio goes off the air, so do artists.

Feel free to mention how much music you’ve discovered through LuxuriaMusic, or that you’ve learned about music that you never heard any place else.

Also, please forward this to your friends who love internet radio, and help get the word out. Since getting a bill passed in Congress is a difficult, we need to contact our representatives NOW!

Thank you for your help,

The LuxuriaMusic Team

Here’s a page on the subject.