Online radio protesters to stage 'day of silence'

By Stevie Smith Jun 25, 2007, 12:55 GMT

Those of you who enjoy nothing more than sitting back and listening to Internet-based radio programming throughout the course of your day are in for a deafening silence tomorrow (Tuesday, June 26) as a considerable chunk of the online radio broadcasting community will be staging a full day of airwave silence by way of protest at sizeable upcoming (and retroactive) royalty fee increases that will see many smaller broadcasters abruptly put out of business.

Speaking to The Boston Globe, Phil Redo, vice president and general manager of the five Boston-based radio stations owned by Greater Media Inc., outlined that Tuesday’s protest was being held "as a way to increase the public awareness of this situation," in the hope that the wide-reaching "day of silence" will spark fervour throughout the ranks of Internet listeners and inspire them to pressure U.S. Congress into supporting currently pending legislation designed to nullify the royalty fee increases brought forward by SoundExchange, the music-industry organization that collects Internet royalties.

It is expected that the day of silence could very well affect online listeners in their millions, not least because, beyond a wide selection of smaller broadcasters taking part in the virtual sit-in, Internet giant Yahoo Inc. will be temporarily suspending access to around 200 channels of its free Net-based music, while hugely popular Internet radio network Live365 will also be dropping off air, which will see the swift removal of some 10,000 Internet radio channels in one fell swoop.

Justin Savage, founder of Internet music streaming service LoudCity, rallied for listener support by revealing his hope that the day of silence successfully "creates one final push of momentum" and marks the turning point in Internet radio’s struggle to make Congress aware of a "dire situation."

In a move designed to give listeners an easy point of entry should they wish to influence the outcome of the struggle, anyone visiting their favourite station/channel on Tuesday will instead be met with an official announcement asking for their support, and also directions to specific Web pages that convey contact information for members of U.S. Congress.

By way of reaction to tomorrow’s day of silence, an official spokesman for SoundExchange said huge and profitable businesses such as Yahoo Inc. and the Time Warner-owned AOL network could well afford to pay a fair price for their streamed Internet radio music. He also insisted that a less costly royalty fee proposal had been issued for smaller online broadcasters.

From Savage’s professional point of view, if royalty fee charges do not remain at their current positioning of a fixed annual percentage related to each individual Internet radio broadcaster, his two-year-old business would be quickly put out of commission.