By Burt Lum

As a result of the expense imposed by the passage of a royalty fee for Internet broadcasters (I wrote about it in my July 16 column), independent webcasters are shutting down their streams.

One such casualty is SOMA FM. As a prototypical Internet radio station, playing independent music rarely heard on commercial airwaves, SOMA gained in popularity with listeners. However, SOMA estimated that with the federally imposed fee structure, it would be required to pay up to $500 a day or $15,000 a month.

With that kind of financial burden placed on independent webcasters, many of whom are noncommercial, stations are shutting down.

I did a small survey of what's going on and found there is hope to save our streams, but we all have to make our voices heard.

If you're a regular listener to KTUH-FM as I am, then you will know they have been pointing listeners to a site at Rice University. Here you can find the latest updates and information about making your opinion known.

On July 29, the U.S. House of Representative introduced legislation called the Internet Radio Fairness Act, HR 5285. If passed, this act will exempt small webcasters from the fees. A slight modification needs to be added to include college radio stations that stream. Sample letters are provided at the Rice site for you to fax to your favorite legislator.

Maddog has a slightly different approach. His heavy-metal streams are provided through www.live365.com and www.audiorealm.com. Maddog says, the fees are covered by a subscription-styled agreement with the stream provider. That way, for now, the streaming can continue without the threat of fee violations.

The American Indian Radio on Satellite is on a different track, since it is part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and has a separate agreement with the Recording Industry Association of America.

At least the vehicle for airtime still exists. But we're not out of the woods yet, so support www.saveinternetradio.org. ;-)

Burt Lum is one click away at burt@brouhaha.net.