Monday, April 30, 2007
EMAIL OR CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON NOW TO ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR H.R. 2060, THE INTERNET RADIO EQUALITY ACT!
EMAIL OR CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON NOW TO ASK THEM TO CO-SPONSOR H.R. 2060, THE INTERNET RADIO EQUALITY ACT!
A bill has just been introduced in Congress that will save Internet radio from the devastating royalty fee increases that will put thousands of Internet webcasters out of business on May 15th. Please call or email your Representative in Congress as soon as possible and urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 2060, the Internet Radio Equality Act.
When calling or emailing, please consider adding these talking points:
- PLEASE CO-SPONSOR H.R. 2060, THE INTERNET RADIO EQUALITY ACT!
- One of the internet radio services I use is Coolstreams. While the IRS has determined that Coolstreams operates in the public interest as a PUBLIC CHARITY, the Internet Radio royalty rates implemented by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) on March 2, 2007, might force this NON-PROFIT Internet Radio Site to close, and I do not want to see that happen.
- H.R. 2060 will make the Internet Radio Royalty fair for Non-Profit organizations like Coolstreams and other Non-Profit Organizations who offer Internet Radio Streaming.
If you would like to read more detail about this issue, click here >>>
Thank you!
Labels: charity, H.R. 2060, internet radio, Internet Radio Equality Act, non-profit
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):
- Live365.com answers Sound
Exchanges letter to it's members >>> - DiMA Requests Judges Reconsider Major Flaws in
Internet Radio Royalty Decision >>> - Will the RIAA kill net radio? (The Register) >>>
- New Royalties Threaten Internet Radio
(DIMA) >>>
Click here to support us with your Memberships and Donations >>>
Labels: 501(c)(3), charity, donations, internet radio, membership payments, memberships, non-profit, royalties, tax deductions
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Coolstreams IS an Exempt 501-c-3 Public Charity
I am also pleased to announce that we accomplished this WITHOUT significant use of your Membership fees or donations. Other than the $500 filing fee and about $200 in office supplies, postage, copying, etc., we managed to complete the entire process without incurring expensive legal fees or other significant costs. Thus, we are able to continue to put your Membership contributions and donations where you would want us to - into further developing the programing and content.
Thank you again to a few who have made extra contributions to our campaign - if you have not yet done so, and would like to make a tax deductible contribution to our efforts, see the section immediately below (or above) and follow the link from there, or click on the Members Tab on our main site.
Labels: 501(c)(3), charity, donations, membership payments, memberships, non-profit, tax deductions
Monday, February 20, 2006
Please Support our "Growing Pains" fundraiser Campaign
Support Our 2006 Growing Pains Campaign >>>
For our regular listeners & site users: We have started a special "Growing Pains" Campaign to raise needed funds to accomplish:
* Paying for legal fees to complete our non-profit filing work,
* Develop a paid student internship program to get more On-Demand programming developed for the site faster,
* Expand our server storage capacity to host more on-demand and Coolstreams programming.
Our GOAL is to raise at least $100,000.
Our top priority is completing our 501-c-3 Tax Exemption process. If we are successful in achieving Exempt Status this year, your contribution to this campaign will become tax deductible!
If any of you, our loyal listeners, have any legal expertise in non-profit filing and would like to help us, please contact me. Or if you would like to get involved in helping in some other way, please let me know.
If you have a business or service that you would like to promote at the same time you are supporting us, or would like to support our efforts in a more innovative way, please stay tuned here - we have a very interesting NEW IDEA for this coming very soon - please check back on this blog!
If you have some suggestions for other ways for us to raise funds, or just want to comment on any of this, please make a reply on this Blog, or drop me an email (programs -at- musicsojourn. etc.)
Thank you for reading! Growing our service depends on the generous support of listeners like you! Support Our 2006 Growing Pains Campaign - Thanks! >>>
Labels: 501(c)(3), charity, donations, non-profit
Return to Coolstreams Site Info Index >>>
About Me
- Name: Scott Ericson
- Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
