WHRB Faces New Streaming Charges

Those outside the Boston area may no longer be able to turn on their computers to hear the music playing from the basement of Pennypacker Hall—the home of Harvard’s student-run radio station, WHRB.

The station, along with other college and community radio stations, may be forced to stop Internet play due to radio streaming fees.

“The station itself probably won’t close because it is non-profit,” said WHRB President Mona C. Lewandoski ’03. “But if the fees are too high, the Web station may [shut down].”

The federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act states that all stations must pay fees for each song played on the Internet as well for each listener who’s hearing the song.

“If a station plays 10 songs, and 10 people are listening, it must multiply the fee by 100,” said Adam I. Cohen, a partner in Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, the law firm that represented webcasters in a trial against record companies to determine rates.

Although the bill was passed in 1998, the actual fee was not decided and ruled on until July. And Web-based broadcasters will have to pay royalties retroactive to 1998. The high backpayment is a primary reason why small stations fear the law will force them out of business.

“I don’t want to see college radio die or precluded online,” said Jonathan Zittrain, Berkman assistant professor for entrepreneurial legal studies.

The copyright act stimulated a large appeal by radio stations, as well as a website built to protest it. The site lists a number of stations affected by the bill, including WHRB. It also encourages people to write their members of Congress and complain that a new bill attempting to compromise on the royalty issue was “negotiated and agreed upon without educational and community station input.”

“We can afford back payments but a lot of stations can’t,” Lewandoski said. “For some, Internet is all they have.”

In February 2002, an arbitration panel decided that the fee would be 0.07 of a penny per song, per person. In July, the Library of Congress’ copyright office ruled in favor of it. Currently, the decision is on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Advocates of the smaller radio stations are pushing a new bill, the Internet Radio Fairness Act. According to Cohen, it states that the stations are not required to pay record companies until the appeals are over.

“The potential for abuse is much greater over the Internet, and I agree that the record companies should receive some money,” Lewandoski said. “However, I think the price we pay should be much, much lower.”

“It is unlikely [the royalties] will change, but it’s possible,” Cohen said.

But he also added that the law is only applicable until the end of this month.

When it is renewed, Cohen said he believes the fee will decrease.

Lewandoski said she is confident WHRB’s Web-based stream will run smoothly through this semester.

“I think once the bill is enforced there will be this moment of silence and a bunch of stations will shut down,” she said. “But, gradually, after finding cheaper ways [to broadcast], they’ll come back.”