The Copyright Office will announce a decision about radio stations broadcasting on the Internet as soon as this week, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters said in an interview. Broadcasters Radio stations are putting signals on the Internet, or Webcasting, to reach listeners beyond their local community and generate new advertising revenue. About 4,000 of almost 14,000 U.S. stations rebroadcast their signals over the Internet. Emmis is leading a consortium of broadcasters, called Local Media Internet Venture Inc., to spearhead online efforts. The music industry argues that rebroadcasts should trigger new fees because the Web site is making a digital copy of the radio station's signal during the Webcasting process.
New rules apply in a new world.
The National Association of Broadcasters filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York seeking to apply the current performance exemption to radio Webcasts, Wharton said. When the Copyright Office rules, Peters said she expects the losing party to challenge that decision in court. The second issue involves when a Web site that plays music and accepts limited customer feedback should be eligible for a blanket license with a set royalty, a so-called compulsory copyright license. Such licenses, used by cable and satellite companies, let companies pay the fee and play music without negotiating a royalty with each record label, making it easier and usually less expensive to secure programming. Sites defined as interactive sites are ineligible and must negotiate licenses individually with each record company.