US internet radio broadcasts music to protest record increase in royalties

Xinhua Los Angeles, June 26 (reporter Cao Wei) The United States many internet radio 26th launched the "National Silence Day" action, the suspension of various types of music, protesting a demand for online radio to the record company to pay music royalties to the new law. 　　The new regulations, due to take effect on July 15, require internet radio to pay the record company 0.08 cents per audience per listener, and a one-time payment of $500 for each channel on the Internet, and the payment time from the beginning of 2000. 　　This will lead to a more than 10 times-fold rise in the operating costs of online radio, many smaller stations will be devastated, and large online radio stations such as Yahoo and AOL will also be hit hard, according to the online radio operator. Yahoo, AOL and other sites have a large number of personalized music channels, according to the new fees, they have to pay a music royalty of up to tens of millions of dollars. 　　Ian Rogers, head of Yahoo Music channel, said the new fees would lead to the death of Internet radio. Pandora's online radio, based in California State Oakland, currently has 7 million users, and its business model is to provide personalized channels for listeners. 　　The station's founder, Tim Westgrin, said his station would have to pay 100 million dollars on July 15, according to the new charges, which would make the station unsustainable. The inability of internet radio to survive is perhaps the original intention of the music industry to enact new legislation. Historically, record companies have been scrambling to free radio broadcasts of their singers to spur record sales, and some record companies have even bribed music-show anchors. 　　Since the advent of the Internet, illegal downloading has become more and more popular, online music radio has flourished, record sales have fallen for years, the record industry has experienced an unprecedented survival crisis. 　　The record industry says that increasing royalties to online radio stations is designed to ensure that record companies and artists receive the rewards they deserve, thus preventing musicians from losing their creative power because of reduced incomes. A number of public radio and commercial radio stations with online broadcasting services also participated in the National Day of silence. 　　Online radio operators expect the move to be a huge response to nearly 30 million listeners across the United States listening to music over the Internet. 　　Online radio operators have also launched listeners to write to members of the Royalties Committee for a hearing on the fees for online music royalties. Online broadcasters have also proposed the "Internet Radio Fair Act", which calls for the same fees as satellite radio for internet radio. Satellite stations, which are broadcast digitally and without commercial advertising, currently pay 7.5% of their operating income to the recording industry as royalties.