Provided by our friends at Live365

The Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060 in the House, S. 1353 in the Senate) was introduced by Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) and now has 100+ cosponsors in the House and growing. This act, (download the pdf of H.R. 2060), has five major provisions:

• Nullifies the recent decision of the CRB judges
  
  
• Changes the royalty rate-setting standard that applies to Internet radio royalty arbitrations in the future so that it is the same standard that applies to satellite radio royalty arbitrations -- the 801(b)(1) standard that balances the needs of copyright owners, copyright users, and the public (rather than "willing buyer / willing seller"). (For more detail on this point, read the recent RAIN issue on "Copyright law.")
  
  
• Instructs future CRBs that the minimum annual royalty per service may be set no higher than $500.
  
  
• Establishes a "transitional" royalty rate, until the 2011-15 CRB hearing is held, of either .33 cents per listener hour, or 7.5% of annual revenues, as selected by the provider for that year. Those rates would be applied retroactively to January 1, 2006. (The logic behind this rate, incidentally, is an attempt to match the royalty rate that satellite radio pays for this royalty -- thus the name of the bill.)
  
  
• Expands the Copyright Act's Section 118 musical work license for noncommercial webcasters to enable noncomms to also perform sound recordings over Internet radio at royalty rates designed for noncommercial entities, and sets an transition royalty at 150% of the royalty amount paid by each webcaster in 2004.
  
  
• For future CRBs (e.g., 2011-15), adds three new reports in the CRB process: The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information will submit a report to the CRB judges on the industry impact in terms of competitiveness of the judges' proposed rates; at the same time, the FCC will submit a report to the CRB judges on the effects of the judges' proposed rates on localism, diversity of programming, and competitive barriers to entry; and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will submit a report to Congress and the CRB judges on the effect of the the judges' proposed rates on their licencees.

Now that this act has been introduced, the SaveNetRadio coalition call to action is specific and direct: We are asking listeners to call their Representative and ask him/her to "cosponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act." Simply enter your zip code below to find your Senators or Representitive.