The latest offer from SoundExchange to cap the minimum royalty fees on webcasters has KCRW's Celia Hirschman concerned. On her recent weekly episode of On The Beat, Hirschman disclosed that not all the terms of the agreement were released in SoundExchange's July 29 press release, including the fact that all webcasters would have to agree to cease their lobbying efforts on behalf of the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would stop the July 15 ruling from the Copyright Royalty Board to drastically increase royalty rates. SoundExchange's press release stated that the $500 per channel fee would be capped at $2,500, but did not reveal that it would only last for 18 months. In that time, webcasters would not be able to lobby Congress for any change, yielding Hirschman to express that they'd be forced to "fight all over again." SoundExchange could not be reached for a quote by presstime. www.kcrw.com
