Kiss Your Favorite Streaming Radio Stations Goodbye

Streaming internet radio stations were dealt a tough blow yesterday, as a Federal panel put forth a new set of Web music royalty rates that will cost stations .14 cents per song and are retroactive to 1998.

The stations - already struggling to find ways of bringing in revenue -will be hit hard by the new plan, which set the royalty rate at about ten times the rate webcasters suggested.

The new rates will wind up costing Live365.com - a popular station with about 2 million unique visits a month - an extra $150,000 dollars monthly, whereas smaller stations will probably be driven off the net altogether.

Panel sets royalty rate for music on Web radio