x Attention RAIN readers: A journalist working on a story for The Economist would like to interview some webcasters in Russia, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and/or Eastern Europe. If that's you, drop me a line at kurt@kurthanson.com today and I will forward your information to him. -- KH x

"But the heightened royalty rates enacted by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board earlier this year and scheduled to take effect July 15 are not the only thing that's firing up leading Internet radio industry companies like RealNetworks, Yahoo, Pandora and Live365.

"In letters distributed to various Capitol Hill offices on Thursday morning, the four companies' CEOs argue that the music industry will also be forcing collection of more than $1 billion per year from three services alone—Yahoo, RealNetworks and Pandora—in the name of covering so-called administrative costs.

"Here's how they say they derived that figure: When the CRB decided earlier this year to change the rules for Internet broadcasters, it also decided to levy a $500 minimum annual fee per Internet radio 'channel.' SoundExchange... says that minimum payment is supposed to cover administrative costs.

"But since some of the larger Internet radio services potentially offer their listeners hundreds of thousands of unique 'channels' (RealNetworks' Rhapsody offered more than 400,000 in 2006 alone, according to a company spokesman), the companies view the ruling as forcing them to multiply that mandatory minimum payment accordingly (for Real, that would amount to $200 million).

"Such an amount would far outpace the $20 million in total royalty fees collected by SoundExchange from the Internet radio industry last year, the CEOs note in their letter. And besides, it's not even clear that those payments would go to artists, as royalty payments do, the companies argue.

"While we don't imagine SoundExchange would keep this $1 billion all to itself, this lack of clarity is absurd,' RealNetworks spokesman Matt Graves told CNET News.com.

"SoundExchange did not respond to requests for comment."

Read the entire article at CNET News.

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x Even the most staunch advocate in Congress on the side of the copyright owners has got to see the flaw in this aspect of the CRB decision: The CRB judges set a rate that includes $1 billion in administrative fee payments to administer $20 million in royalty distribution! That's an egregious error which the Internet Radio Equality Act would fix. -- KH x

From Ad Age: "...I love radio in any and every form. Anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm all for the ability of any artist (musical or otherwise)  to reach an audience and succeed.

"By now, you've probably heard about a highly contentious battle between internet broadcasters and the CRB... Major record labels have remained eerily quiet, while the public outcry elsewhere has been vocal, severe and passionate. The stakes in this tête-à-tête are heavy with Goliaths — and even more Davids...

"I had a chance to catch up with Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. Familiar with this flavor of battle, Westergren points out there are plenty of misconceptions about internet radio. Chief among them is a belief in proportionate, waning music sales (when in fact, they tend to rise with internet play), how the artist is undercut in the process and — perhaps most notably — that internet radio is to blame for the challenges currently facing record labels...

"A practical advertising application has emerged amid the debate. Westergren (pictured left) and Pandora have been evolving an ad revenue model he considers very strong and viable. Take my registration experience as an example: Upon signing up for Pandora,... I was asked whether or not I would support a small chunk of advertising within the audio programming of the site to help continue its operation. I was very much for it, though this has yet to happen: The current advertising on Pandora is actually engaging and highly sticky. I've clicked through to advertisers far more often than usual.

"While some internet radio advocates argue that artists are merely protecting their turf, and others blame the record labels' lack of foresight, we can all agree on the need for a level playing field conducive to business growth."

Subscribers can read the entire article at Advertising Age.

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x The writer is talking about the Pandora advertising unit of a web page takeover (matching the look of a 300x250 big box in the upper right corner) that is triggered by a listener's use of the of the player controls. Given the fact that Pandora does not yet seem comfortable subjecting its listeners to video pre-rolls or in-stream audio spots, it's an interesting and creative approach. It will be interesting to see what kind of CPMs advertisers prove willing to pay for such an ad unit. -- KH x

From CMT.com's "Nashville Skyline" column by Chet Flippo: "I don't know whether to worry about what a rotten year county music and all music are having in CD sales — and about how much worse it's going to get. (It'll be worse.) Or to celebrate some of the terrific current music that I'm really enjoying... Or to point out the fact that fans are still flocking to see live country concerts. Or to ponder all the alternative music delivery systems coming down the pike...

"My car listening consists almost entirely of CDs and Sirius satellite radio. I'm sorry, my friends in country radio, but I have long since moved on. No more commercials, no more wacky stunts, no more same 20 songs...

"At home, the trees around my house pretty much block out satellite reception — surely the signal could be improved — so I listen to CDs, LPs and Internet radio.

"There is an infinite number of good Internet stations available, and I don't need to tell you what they are. Besides many good terrestrial radio stations' Internet sites, I like the search sites Slacker and Pandora. But Internet radio is facing endangerment from record industry pressure and lobbying  from the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to force them to pay high royalty rates. You can learn more at www.savenetradio.org.

"One of the great appeals of radio is its ability to surprise you. You don't necessarily know what the next song is, and a good DJ can treat you with a good mix of music. I don't want to hear my same downloaded song list again and again. (And I especially don't want to listen through wimpy little earbuds. I want some real volume.)

"I like to hear the unexpected, the songs that flow from one to the next, so that you might jump from Hank Williams to Lucinda Williams to Don Williams to Tex Williams to Hank Williams Jr. to Hank Williams III to Holly Williams to Robin and Linda Williams. And it all makes good musical sense. I like going from Ry Cooder to Little Feat to Ernest Tubb to Linda Ronstadt to Steve Earle to Willie Nelson to Raul Malo to Neko Case.

"R.I.P. country radio. Long live custom country radio."

Read Flippo's entire "Nashville Skyline" column here.