Live 365 Vows to Keep Stations Online
While nearly all stations in the fledgling Christmas genre at Live 365 are preparing audiences for a permanent shut down this weekend, Live 365 vows to keep broadcasting. “As the clock winds down during this final week before the July 15th deadline, I wanted to update you on Live365’s service plans and our continued activities to oppose the unsupportable new sound recording royalty rates set by the CRB.” writes Live365.com’s CEO N. Mark Lam. “In answer to the top question on listeners’ minds: we have no plans to shut down on July 15th when the billions in per channel minimums and significantly higher rates come due, unless forced to by SoundExchange.”
Will SoundExchange force the payments? Industry experts are split on that. In the mean time, Christmas music enthusiasts expect the worst.
