BY PAUL MALONEY
Prior to February 20, 2002, Internet radio operated in the Dark Ages. Or at least "in the dark." Webcasters looking to build businesses complained that uncertainty over royalty costs made it difficult to attract investors.

Then came the blinding, piercing, blast of light. Webcasters were told that they would be compelled to pay double or triple (or even more) of their annual revenues to cover sound recording copyright royalties. Suddenly uncertainty looked less "ignorant" and more "blissful," and creating a business seemed impossible.

2002's CARP royalty recommendation, the Librarian of Congress's determination, and the ensuing action among webcasters, the media, in Congress, and in the courts -- together form by far the most pervasive, controversial, pivotal, unifying, dividing, and visible group of issues in Internet radio's short history. Other developments over the past year (more webcaster shutdowns, the further development of music subscription services, the Arbitron acquisition of the Measurecast license and technology, and others) were, to say the least, overshadowed by CARP.

This predominance is reflected in our look back at 2002. While we've done our best to capture a sense of everything in the space that was important over the past year, it's tough to remember doing much that didn't in some way involve trying to "Save Internet radio."

Below are links to RAIN coverage of what we consider to be the major stories of 2002, grouped by month and listed with issue date. The bigger stories are highlighted and accompanied by a bigger headline and introductory text (the link to these highlighted stories follows the text). We hope you find this look back through 2002 interesting. If you feel we've omitted an important development, please let us know. Feel free to use the Feedback form on this page, or e-mail us here: feedback@kurthanson.com.

Look for follow-up installments of this feature coming soon in RAIN.

A quick reminder...you can always navigate through past issues of RAIN by using the arrow(s) near the date at the top of each issue. Or, to quickly view a specific issue, click the Past Issues link under RAIN Resources in the left-hand column of the RAIN homepage, then click the appropriate date.

January	4 -- Susquehanna ends "The Merge"
	7 -- Sirius offers channel streams
	8 -- Clear Channel ends "World Class Rock"
	9 -- Listen shifts Net radio to Rhapsody service
	January 10 Radio/RIAA webcast deal nullified by Copyright Office As reported by CNet News.com: "Federal copyright authorities have blocked a deal between the record industry and broadcasters that would have set royalty terms for radio-station broadcasts put online. "Broadcasters, such as radio giant Clear Channel, had agreed with the Recording Industry Association of America in late December to pay for music used online. Terms of the settlement had been kept secret, however. The Copyright Office released its decision rejecting the deal Wednesday, potentially sending the two sides back to the drawing board..." Read more in RAIN here.
	11 -- RAIN calls Sirius "America's best webcast"
	15 -- RAIN Radio gets nine new channels

February	14 -- Webcasters stay away from RAB 2002; Sirius launches
	February 19 Copyright Office releases reporting requirements BY PAUL MALONEY It appears that the U.S. Copyright Office, in handing down a set of reporting requirements for Internet streamers that use copyrighted music, has almost unilaterally followed the wishes of the record industry. What broadcasters are taking as a ridiculously onerous set of requirements for webcasting and streaming broadcast and satellite radio transmissions was released without fanfare in a February 7 document titled "Notice and Recordkeeping for Use of Sound Recordings Under Statutory License." The order requires the originating source of a webcast to provide to copyright holders no less than eighteen data points for every song streamed, including the "numeric designation of the place of the sound recording within the program," "the ISRC code of the recording," and the UPC code and catalog number of the retail album. Read more in RAIN here.
	February 20 CARP recommendation released CARP, the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, which is the body appointed to recommend a copyright royalty rate for music streamed on the Internet, has finally released their conclusions. These rates, if adopted by the Copyright Office, will be what webcasters will have to pay (according to the Statutory License) to record labels to use their music. It appears that commercial broadcasters, to stream their over-the-air signal on the Internet, will pay a royalty at about half the rate (0.07 cents per performance) of an Internet "pure-play" webcaster (0.14 cents)...Note that "per performance" means "per song/per listener." In other words, every time one person hears one song, that's a performance. Read more in RAIN here.
	21 -- Industry reacts to CARP

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