Scott's Views: A convoluted new Tale of "The Good, (The Bad) and the Ugly."

Sunday, April 08, 2007

A convoluted new Tale of "The Good, (The Bad) and the Ugly."

Two important events that impact our future occurred in the first Quarter of 2007:

The Good: In a strange twist of logic, the IRS is actually the GOOD in our story because they have approved Coolstreams (including Music Sojourn) as a Tax Exempt public charity under IRS section 501(c)(3). That means that YOU now may be able to claim your donations AND Membership fees to Coolstreams as a tax deduction! >>>

The BAD: Well, the weather has been fairly lousy throughout much of the U.S. this winter & spring. While that has not affected us too much, there is, unfortunately, ...

The Ugly: At almost the same time as we received the GOOD news above (early March, 2007), the Copyright royalty board decided on new internet radio (webcasting) royalties. A combination of onerous new per song rates and per stream minimums have caused a new uproar in the internet radio industry, with most independent outlets claiming that the new rates will exceed their total incomes, some claiming by 25% to 50% above their total revenues. Rather than try to rewrite what many others have covered well elsewhere, I will include some additional reading links for you below.

Many of the larger players (including National Public Radio) are currently preparing appeals to try to have these rates adjusted or repealed. This will play out over the month of April and possibly into May & June, 2007. For now, WE must assume the WORST CASE (meaning that the current rates prevail without amendment).

As a small specialty webcaster, the worst case WILL impact us badly also. While we are still not certain of the total impact (as some aspects of the decision still need some interpretation), we are pretty certain that this will cause us to make changes in our programming going forward in order to survive.

Specifically, any areas of Coolstreams' programming that are not well supported by Memberships and Donations will probably need to be discontinued due to these new minimum royalties.

We hate to drop ANY programming that we have already identified and produced as an area supporting our mission, but lack of enough support to at least cover the new minimum royalty rates to stream them will leave us with no alternative.

This is the time to show your financial support for the specific programs that you enjoy and use on Coolstreams. It may be too late by May or June!

Click here to support us with your Memberships and Donations >>>

People say yes to our programming. It is time to say yes to supporting us financially!

If you are not a Member, please say yes to our reasonable Membership options now. If you are a current Member, please say yes to an extra donation. Either way, your Membership or donation (or both) can be tax deductible for you, and you can also say yes to some great music premiums from our Member Premiums section!

On our Member's sign-up form, you can select one or more programs that you wish to support and help keep alive on Coolstreams. Your selections on our form is critically important, and just about the only way that we will know which areas we can keep alive if we are forced to that decision.

Thank you for reading and for caring!

Click here to support us with your Memberships and Donations >>>

Special note for performing artists:

If you are an independent artist that is receiving airplay on one or more of our programs, please also consider either a small donation, or a donation of some extra CDs that we can offer as Member Premium incentives. Either your donation or the value of your donated CDs is also a tax deductible contribution for you!

Click here to support us with your Memberships and Donations >>>

Here are some good links to read more about these issues (all open in a new window):