A decision of a US copyright appeals board in June has obliged radio stations and webcasters to pay royalties to recording companies and artists for playing their music on the internet. The fee is 0.007 cents per listener per song. This means that radio stations will have to pay 70 cents for each song played to an audience of 1,000 listeners.
Payments, the first of which are due on 20th October this year, are retroactive to 1998, and apply to both commercial and non-commercial stations. Traditional over-the-air radio stations that do not also webcast are not subject to the fee.
USA Today also reports that a bill that aims to offer relief to small radio stations is expected to be introduced this week and the US royalty collection agency has said that it would be willing to work out a compromise with small webcasters.
A group of radio stations has asked a US appeals court to review the webcasting royalties decision.