Live365 Decries Webcasting Rate Deal; Submits Own Proposal

Foster City, Calif. -- Live365, the Foster City-based developer of a "microwebcasting" service that powers web radio stations, said that a royalty rate deal announced this week by SoundExchange will have detrimental effects to its business, and submitted its own rate proposal to the agency. "This deal once again focuses only on a handful of major webcasters, those that are capable of earning more than $1.25M annually," the company said in a statement, noting that its user-created stations "will never reach even 2% of the revenue and listening limits set in this 'pureplay' deal." Additionally, the SoundExchange deal calls for an annual $25,000 upfront payment from all webcasters, "a fee greater than these microwebcasters can earn with their niche audiences and very limited listening," Live 365 said. The company said that it has submitted an alternative rate proposal to SoundExchange that "not only provides these microwebcasters the same reduced rates as offered to much larger players, but also leverages webcasting service aggregators… to assist SoundExchange with the administration, royalty collection and payment, full census reporting, and compliance for tens of thousands of these tiny stations."
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