Yahoo, AOL Web Radio To Go Silent?

Yahoo and AOL may shut down their Internet radio services after being hit with a 38 percent increase in royalties as a result of the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision in March, according to a Mediaweek report. This comes as consumers watch to see which streaming Internet radio services–including popular ones like Last.fm, Slacker, and Pandora, some of which are offering mobile services–are affected by the rate changes.

“We’re not going to stay in the business if the cost is more than we make long term,” Ian Rogers, general manager at Yahoo’s music unit, said in a Bloomberg report.

Yahoo and AOL stopped directing users to their radio sites when SoundExchange began collecting the higher fees in July, the Mediaweek report said.

Yahoo, AOL May Silence Web Radio [Mediaweek]

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