For those of you wishing to tune in to a late night listen to somafm.com, KCRW.org or live365, you’ll have to tune in another day.

Why? Today (Tuesday, June 26) thousands of US-based internet radio broadcasters are shutting down their stations to protest a royalty rate increase that, if unchanged, will inevitably put most of them out of business. As an example, backdated royalty rates for a small station in San Francisco (somafm.com) will total over $1.1 million USD in additional royalties due July 15th. All the while, royalty rates for satellite radio and terrestrial radio stations remain virtually untouched.

The day of silence is reminiscent of a similar event on May 1st 2002 when internet broadcasters protested a ruling from the US Copyright Arbitration Royalty Board. The 2002 event resulted in a temporary adjustment of royalty rates which allowed internet radio stations to continue broadcasting.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.savenetradio.org/