Webcasters speak, Congress listens during D.C. 'Hill walk'
·May 3, 12:20 PM
Posted by: Paul Maloney
  "Day of Silence" on temporary hold awaiting optimal date
After getting advice from numerous webcasters and other observers, we have decided that, given the surprise two-month reprieve in the CRB’s final determination yesterday (see RAIN article here), May 8th is no longer the optimal date for our planned “Day of Silence” event.
We only get one chance to pull this off, so the general consensus is that we should wait for just the right moment — i.e., when developments in Congress are at the optimal point. Watch for continued analysis and news regarding this event in upcoming issues of RAIN.
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A large group of webcasters, artists, and independent record label executives spent Tuesday navigating the hallways of our nation’s capital, petitioning members of Congress to help the webcast industry chart a course that will allow the blossoming industry to thrive without the crippling royalty rates mandated by the CRB.
Participants in Tuesday’s “Hill walk,” organized by the SaveNetRadio.org coalition included representatives from webcasters like Live365, Pandora, and LoudCity, in addition to musicians and label reps from across the country (as well as the full RAIN staff).
The group arrived in Washington D.C. hot on the heels of the introduction of the Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060), which has gained substantial momentum in Congressional offices since being introduced last Thursday (previous RAIN coverage here). [Pictured right: Webcasters  Eric Thomas of WMIZ (far left) and Mike Roe (second from right) and Mary McCann (far right) of radioio are seen in this photo]
The democratic process
Nearly 100 meetings with the offices of Representatives and Congressmen were scheduled for the afternoon, as dozens of additional offices entertained impromptu meetings from groups with time to schedule extra sessions in addition to their day’s assignments. While most groups met with legislative aides, a number of groups sat down with individual Representatives themselves to deliver their urgent message face-to-face.
The experience was a real hands-on civics lesson, as we did something few Americans do:  visit the offices of some of the most powerful people in the U.S. government to personally express their concerns.
Capitol Hill was positively abuzz with the issue. In our post-walk conversations with other webcasters, numerous groups reported meeting with slightly stunned staffers who were clamoring to learn more about a group whose efforts had flooded their offices with, in several cases, tens of thousands of letters, faxes, e-mails and phone calls asking them to support H.R. 2060.
[Pictured above, L to R: Daniel Mauer, aide to Rep. Al Green (D – TX 9), singer James Stevens of Washington D.C.-based Rome in A Day ; Johnie Floater, Live365]
Artists, webcasters standing shoulder-to-shoulder
The office of Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL 4th) (who represents half of the RAIN staff on the trip) reported that a huge volume of correspondence from artists, musicians and labels made them take particularly keen notice of the issue.
The trip was also a great lesson on the diversity of the webcasting industry. From small webcasters that are part of the Live365 and LoudCity networks, non-commercial broadcasters, commercial webcasters, and more, it was also a great opportunity to toss ideas and  strategies around with some of the most passionate people in our industry. [Pictured right, L to R: Paul Maloney; Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA 2nd); Bill Goldsmith, Radio Paradise; Daniel McSwain]
During the day, webcasters also had the chance to meet and hear some very talented and articulate artists that understand the importance of internet radio in furthering their careers. Everyone involved truly appreciated their contributions to our fight, and it was gratifying for both groups to exchange mutual thanks for their efforts.
Artists and webcasters alike shared their accounts of the ways the proposed CRB rates would positively decimate their careers and small businesses, and how the CRB-determined rate would make it impossible to continue to pursue those careers.
Due to the convoluted nature of the royalty rate determination process, webcasters drew up some simple charts comparing the proposed CRB rates with the royalty rates the industry has paid up to this point. The charts (below) proved effective at vividly displaying how the proposed rates make nearly all Internet radio businesses financially untenable, a point that several of the Congressional offices seemed to quite clearly understand.
As shown in the charts above, for the six largest Internet-only webcasters, the CRB determination would have them paying 58% of their 2008 projected revenues for this single royalty, despite the fact that satellite radio only pays 7.5% of its revenues for the same royalty.
And for smaller, independent webcasters, the impact is even worse — the CRB rate would be 360% of their total projected 2008 revenues.
Finally, a reminder to call your Representative in Congress and ask him/her to cosponsor H.R. 2060, the Internet Radio Equality Act. All of the information you need to make that call is available at SaveNetRadio.org.
For most of us who participated in the “Hill walk,” it was one of the most interesting and exciting days of our lives.
It was great to see participatory democracy in action — being able to walk into a Congressman’s or Senator’s office, get a meeting with a key staffer (even sometimes with no notice), and have a meaningful discussion that could actually affect the legislator’s vote!
And with several dozen of us running around trying to cover hundreds of offices in the space of eight hours, it got hectic: “Okay, I got in to see Baldwin’s office ahead of schedule, so I’m going to run over to the Cannon building to join Mary and Johnny on the Boucher call — and that also means we now have a musician free to send over to the Hart building to join you for the Obama call, so I’m going to send James over… but since your parents live in Sensenbrenner’s district, if you get done early, rush back to the Rayburn building, because it’d be great to have you on THAT call.” (In other words, adrenaline levels were running high!)— KH
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