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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Scottsdale, AZ, United States, 04/17/2007 - Cat Galaxy, the internet radio station for cats reacted to the latest decision by the Library of Congress Copyright Royalty Board which rejected an appeal by webcasters and listeners to be heard over new digital royalty rates passed earlier in March.
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Copyright Royalty Board on Monday rejected requests by small and large webcasters to reconsider a ruling that raised the rates that they must pay to record companies and artists. In the latest ruling, the CRB's panel of judges denied all motions for rehearing and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the new royalties will have to be collected.
The latest decision has caused an uproar in the internet broadcasting community with many webcasters saying that this fight will be taken to Congress and are continuing to encourage their listeners to write their state's representatives. Also, a coalition made up of webcasters, listeners, and indie artists called Savenetradio.org has been formed to keep the fight for internet radio alive. Internet radio station's like Cat Galaxy have made their feelings known on the issue and is continuing to call on its listeners to write their members of Congress.
"This is a very dark day for internet radio but the fight is far from over. We hope our listeners will continue to write their representatives in Congress to protest this latest decision. We've gone through rate hikes before and survived however, this is the worst yet for our industry. With the new royalty rates being left to stand, stations such as ours could possibly have to shut down. It hits us pretty badly, especially since we are the only one that broadcasts to an all feline audience. We also promote a lot of cat related causes on our station like spay/neuter, TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) and even cats for adoption. This latest decision by the CRB will harm a lot of broadcasters, indie artists and others but the biggest loser in all this is the listener," said Nohl Rosen of Cat Galaxy.
The CRB did however grant leniency on one point and are allowing the webcasters to calculate fees by average listening hours, as they have been doing currently, as opposed to the proposed new system of charging a royalty each time every song is heard by an online listener. That exemption counts for last year and this year. After that, the new per-song, per-listener fee structure goes into effect. Though it won't be for a while, this could eventually spell the end of internet radio according to many internet broadcasting websites although the fight is far from over.
"Cat Galaxy will certainly keep fighting. We've been around for 6 years and have worked very hard to get where we are today. Presently, our goal is to do what we can to keep broadcasting despite this setback so that cats will always have a voice to speak for them. I'm sure the CRB and SoundExchange never thought about how this affects the feline listener. We'd like to let them know that cats do indeed enjoy listening to internet radio just as much as humans do. With these new rates, you are possibly taking away a station which was set up just for them, not to mention is also run by cats. And that isn't purrfect. There is nothing worse than an upset cat and our management is not too happy about this latest decision," Rosen added.
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catprotector[.]catgalaxymedia.com 
