Internet Music CEO Makes Appeal To Listeners

Mark Lam, chief executive officer of Internet radio network Live365, is asking listeners to voice their support for the Internet Radio Equality Act (HR 2060), legislation that sets Internet radio rates equal to that of satellite radio, while also providing the same rules for public and non-commercial Internet radio.

Lam met with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., earlier this week after the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) recently denied webcasters' requests for a rehearing on its ruling of new royalty rates. The new rates were a 300 to 1,200-percent increase for Internet radio stations and included a minimum of $500 per station, per year.

"Should this ruling stand, many of your favorite stations will be silenced," Lam wrote in an e-mail to Live365 users. "You will find Live365's 260 genres reduced to the same meager, homogenized list carried on AM/FM radio, because the unfair rates would drive webcasters in niche genres with unique content unavailable elsewhere out of business."

Lam encourages listeners to contact their Congressman to ask them to co-sponsor HR 2060.