This is the end

Congress's attempt today to broker a deal between webcasters and record labels will amount to nothing, according to a SoundExchange representative, because Wednesday's decision by a federal court of appeals made the new online radio royalty rates "etched in stone."

The representative used that expression twice before referring me to SoundExchange's May 1 press release about the Copyright Royalty Board's decision to raise royalty rates, base them on the number of songs each listener hears, and charge a minimum fee per channel that will kill services like Pandora this coming Sunday. |Wired Blogs|