NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Marion, NC, United States, 06/19/2007 - The Copyright Royalty Boards decision raising internet radio rates for small webcasters as high as 1000% above revenue taken in may signal the end of other services provided by the internet radio broadcast community.

One such service is the Internet Radio Amber Alert system created and maintained by internet broadcasters. This service monitors The Missing and Exploited Childrens website where all amber alerts are initially issued. When an alert is issued the information is posted on the Radio Amber website as well as sent to hundreds of other websites via it's free news ticker. In turn these alerts are recorded and automatically played on internet radio stations without the need for the station to manually play the alerts. Hundreds of other participating stations receive the alert email then download the amber alert mp3 and play it manually. Without internet radio stations to broadcast these alerts this service will cease ro exist. Radio Amber was created as a public service for the 52 million monthly listeners of internet radio and is funded by members of the broadcast community.

Of course listeners will lose the ability to find and listen to their preferred music genre. Small webcasters provide a smorgasbord of genres that can not be found anywhere else. Stations like Pandora provide a personalized listening experience based on the listeners music choices. Listeners will no longer be able to hear music and easily purchase it with a few clicks of the mouse. Independent and small artists will lose the opportunity to get their music heard by stations that provide free promotion in exchange. Thousands of independent artists have spoken out against the new rates because they know it is the best outlet for their music and creates cd sales for them.

To drive this loss home a day of silence has been proposed for June 26th 2007. All internet radio stations are asked to participate, even non-US stations. It is believed the decision in the USA will trickle down to other countries and affect all internet stations in the long term. On the day of silence the only thing that will be heard are public service announcements about the issue followed by total silence. Notably even lager webcasting services like Yahoo! LAUNCHcast, Pandora, Live365 and MTV Online are expected to participate in this day of silence along with small commercial webcasters, terrestrial radio broadcasters, non-commercial broadcasters, hobbyists, musicians, and independent record labels. Listeners will be asked to contact their represenatives and support the Internet Radio Equality Act as well as the proposed stay on the July 15th back royalty payment deadline.

Agency / Source: Webcasters Unite - Radio Amber

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