Webcasters facing song royalty battle

SEATTLE, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. congressman trying to broker a royalties deal between Internet music streaming sites and record labels says he's not optimistic.

U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who has been mediating between radio Webcasters and record company royalty collector SoundExchange, says he's frustrated and an agreement doesn't seem likely soon -- a scenario that Webcasters such as Seattle's Pandora say will kill their business models, the Seattle Times reported Monday.

"Most of the rate issues have not been resolved," Berman told the Times. "If it doesn't get much more dramatic quickly, I will extricate myself from the process."

The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board last year moved to more than double that the fee such Webcasters must pay to play a copyrighted music recording on their stations, upping it from .08 of a cent per song per listener in 2006 to .19 of a cent in 2010. Berman has been trying to negotiate a reduction of the fee.

"We're losing money as it is," said Pandora founder Tim Westergren. "The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we're doing is wasting money."