On March 2, the Copyright Royalty Board ruled to increase the rates webcasters pay to musicians and record labels (read Los Angeles Times article and a PDF of the ruling). Since that day, the online world has protested. (The level to which people are having a cow can be seen in this not-too-unbiased Wikipedia page on the Copyright Royalty Board, created on March 7.) Since I was on vacation when this all went down, I have yet to properly dig into the topic. So here's a primer on issues and a reading list in case you want to do a little catching up yourself.

The nitty gritty: Rates will increase from $0.0008 per song per user to $.0008 in 2006 (set retroactively), $.0011 in 2007, $.0014 in 2008, $.0018 in 2009 and $.0019 in 2010. The rates were proposed by SoundExhange, the entity created by the RIAA to collect royalties on behalf of artists and record labels. Critics contend that thousands of webcasters would be forced to cease operations. SoundExchange argues that the increase is fair and points to growth in related ad revenues (which it contends rose to $500 million last year from $30 million in 2003). "We believe internet radio broadcasters are our partners and it is our strong desire to see a thriving online radio marketplace," SoundExchange said in a statement.

Smaller webcasters -- tax-exempt non-profits -- will not be subject to the increase but must pay a $500 minimum fee for up to 159,140 aggregate tuning hours (total hours of programming) per month.

The protest may have got some results. Today, the Copyright Royalty Board announced it would rehear on the decision.

Recent articles:

• Digital Media Association joines webcaster rate challenge. (Billboard.biz)
• Future of Music Coalition issued statement against "one size fits all" rates and processes that it believes will harm small and noncommercial webcasters. (Future of Music)
• NPR filed a challenge to the federal copyright board in protesting the webcaster rate increases. (News.com)
• About SoundExhange (SoundExchange.com)
• Summary of the determination of the librarian of congress on rates and terms for webcasting and ephemeral recordings. (Copyright.gov)