A Senate companion to the "Internet Radio Equality Act" has now been introduced and could help save music webcasting. Due to a recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board, the government-set rates that most Net radio providers pay to license sound recordings will radically increase. This ruling threatens small and non-commercial webcasters as well as commercial services like Pandora, and it could take away the broad diversity of stations that exists online but never has been available through traditional broadcasters. If passed, the "Internet Radio Equality Act" would nullify the royalty ruling and bring some sensible changes to the standards used to set rates in the future. The House version was introduced last month.

This bill's introduction has been driven by the massive grassroots outrage among webcasters and listeners, and you can help keep that momentum going. SaveNetRadio.org is among the many great sites that have helped spearhead this activism -- go there to learn more and take action now.

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