The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has announced its decision on Internet radio royalty rates. Bottom line – Webcasters will now have to pay $500 per station annually, and about 1.28 cents per listener hour, retroactively to the beginning of 2006.

For Live365.com, a service that allows individuals to legally run small Internet radio stations, the decision could be a backbreaker. In the Internet business, it’s hard enough to predict the future, but when you also have to predict the past, it can feel like a real rift in the space-time continuum. “Live365’s royalty obligation for 2006 is running in the range of $350,000 per month, and that’s not even addressing the question of the $500 per station mininum!” – RAIN

[Link]