Listening to some obscure online radio station’s broadcast while browsing the Internet was a quite nice way of spending the spare time. It was somehow a bridge between tradition and modernity, which however made your afternoon both interactive and relaxant. But this may now really become history, as the small Internet radio stations have become silent. The online radio stations have been threatened by the officials with having to pay for the music they play, and now this decision seems to be a no-coming-back way.

The webcasters had tried to go for a Court of Appeals stay, explaining that the higher rates would drive many of the online radio stations out of the business, but the officials have declined to delay the substantial increase in royalties that the web radio stations will have to pay for playing their music.

Some of the small online radio stations have already stopped their broadcasting, for avoiding the royalty payments, as the rate hike is retroactive to the 1^st of January 2006. Yahoo Inc. and other big important webcasters are also fighting the new rates, which were set by the Copyright Royalty Board in March 2007. The rates eliminated the provision that allowed the small webcasters to pay only 10% to 12% of their revenue. Now each station must pay a set per-song fee for every listener, and this will more than double by 2010, so that many online radio stations will have to pay more than they have earned.

Although it seems that the officials aren’t so sensitive about these small businesses the negotiations haven’t yet ended. The webcasters try to negotiate with SoundExchange too, which is an organization that collects and distributes Internet music royalties, and that has the power of striking separate deals. The radio stations’ fans and their owners still have the power to hope for the best.