Dunno about the outcome of this situation but for me it means I'm done with live webcasting for now. Which sucks since I've dropped about 3 grand into software/ware and my time learning this crap and what have you. Ohwell, anybody wanna buy a Sam Broadcaster license? Or a Megaseq software license? Let you have em for real cheap. Take a look at this article and why I'm pissed below:

Internet Radio News

Ad Revenue Cited by SoundExchange Wrong

Following the announcement of the new internet radio royalty rates John Simson of SoundExchange sent out a letter to "SoundExchange Members and Friends" that stated that internet radio ad revenues had grown to 500 million a year. That was echoed on the internet through news releases and was cited as one of the big reasons the new rates were warranted. In the April 4th report issued by JP Morgan analyst John Blackledge puts this figure at 100-150 million, quite a jump back from 500 million. In reality about 20-30% of the claimed revenue which Mr. Simson has stated justified the rates and made them affordable for internet radio.

This April 4th report states that "likely the new rates would limit growth of the Internet radio medium, given that the smaller Internet radio webcasters would likely have trouble generating enough revenue to support the cost growth arising from the new royalties, as well as potentially larger entities weighing the benefits of investing in Internet radio."

This new report sheds some light on the claims made about the revenue being generated by internet radio stations and the bloated figures and tactics being used to keep them in place. "While our overall Internet radio ad estimate is ($400-$500 million), this figure is inclusive of music video related ad revenue, sponsorship, banners and buttons as well as news/talk/sports related revenue and other non music related revenue which would not be subject to the performance royalties."

"We would note that the five largest Internet radio entities, CCU [Clear Channel], Yahoo!, AOL, MSN and CBS likely account for over half of the Internet radio ad market."

"We believe audio streaming and some graphic ad revenue in 2006 was about $100-$150 million all-in, industry-wide," and, as a result, "is a useful starting point when discussing the new royalty rates."

source RAIN News