According to this Wired blog, a reprieve has been granted to webcasters who would have had to start paying a huge increase in royalty fees for music they play. ,Soundexchange the entity charged with collecting the fees has agreed not to enforce the new rates while negotiations continue. Just yesterday I spoke with Ken Conlin who programs Humboldt 101 which plays easy listening music. He had no idea how the new fees would affect his station. He was hoping Live365 which powers his music would figure out something. Apparently they did. Or at least they and Pandora and many other groups and individuals have put enough pressure on Soundexchange and Congress to force the issue in to continued negotiations. Great news! But certainly not the end to the threat.
