Since I tend to skip opportunities to post about the webcasting royalties topic, here's a brief overview of where it stands.

• SoundExchange will not immediately start collecting royalties starting this Monday as planned. SoundExchange's executive director, Jon Simson, told Congress yesterday that SoundExchange will not enforce the new royalty rates while the new rates are still being worked out. (Listening Post)
• Before Congress intervened, a federal appeals court yesterday rejected webcasters' appeal for a delay to the installation of higher rates. Webcasters are pushing a bill that would roll back rates to a level lower than what is currently paid. (Hollywood Reporter)

When was the last time I listened to Internet radio? It's been months, and that was only for a brief amount of time. In the era of on-demand digital gluttony, a radio program seems antiquated. Like most other consumers -- especially the more wired ones -- I have many other options. My daily listening routine covers tethered downloads from the Zune Marketplace, downloads from eMusic and songs ripped from my CD collection. Sometimes I will go to MySpace to stream a band's songs. There's imeem, Purevolume, last.fm, Facebook widgets and a sea of music blogs.

That glut of options is the main reason I think a decrease in the number of webcasters -- if that is the fallout from a rate increase -- will not be a big shock to artists and labels, be they major label or indie. It could be a shock to the spirit and ideals of the music underground, but predictions of an economic fallout have been either exaggerated. If the value of Internet radio is the music discovery they allow (that's the argument I hear and read most often) then the other music discovery tools should be there to pick up the slack.

At this point, it looks as though webcasters have a reprieve and may be able to push through changes to the rate increases. That may save many small Internet radio stations, but I won't be listening either way.