According to The Hollywood Reporter, we’re a teensy step closer to a more realistic royalty rate for small webcasters.
Under the current rates set by Insane Librarian of Congress James Billington Jr. (I’m not sure if “Insane” is actually part of his official title), webcasters have to pay copyright holders 70 cents per song for every 1,000 listeners, which is then split 50/50 between the artists and record labels.
In the new proposal, the royalty rate will apparently be a percentage of revenue. The percentage is unknown, and so is the definition of “small webcaster”. If the goal was to disrupt the small innovators while big business gets its house in order, they’ve succeeded handsomely. Link